Corruption and an ingrained couldn’t-care-less attitude at every level of the BMC can be blamed for the latest bridge collapse in the metropolis. Six innocents lost their lives in the CSMT footbridge crash last week. In July last year, two people were killed when a footbridge collapsed in suburban Andheri.
At the time, the civic body had undertaken to have every bridge repaired. The bridge that collapsed last week was certified okay by an independent firm of engineering consultants. Yet, once the tragic news fades from the front pages, nothing would change.
It is because no one in authority pays the price for such serial tragedies. Lowly functionaries would be hauled up but their bosses would go unpunished. Corruption and carelessness together explain the shoddy construction and maintenance of the civic infrastructure in Mumbai.
Despite being the richest municipality in the nation, Mumbai’s infrastructure is crumbling, roads are studded with pot-holes, sanitary conditions are terrible, a slum-like state prevails even in the posh areas. But the civic leaders and bureaucrats show little concern while corruption permeates all levels of the BMC’s political and administrative leadership. Can anything be done to improve things? We doubt. And Mumbaikars, the real sufferers of the apathy of civic leaders, are helpless.