Falling like ninepins
Infrastructure units in India—from resident buildings to bridges and airports—are falling like ninepins, and authorities have no satisfactory answers. The fresh incident occurred in Surat, Gujarat, where a six-floor building—constructed merely seven years ago—collapsed, claiming at least seven lives and leaving a dozen injured. The actual number of residents trapped beneath the rubble is not yet confirmed. The not-so-old building was reportedly in a dilapidated condition, and served as home to several migrant families, which would eventually turn into a graveyard for some.
Had this been an isolated incident, one would have expressed shock. Sadly, this is not the case—the incident triggers sorrow, not shock. Over the past month itself, the infrastructure lapses across the country have been strikingly visible. Just around a week ago, the roof of Delhi airport couldn’t stand the intensity of pre-monsoon torrential rains and collapsed—killing one and injuring several people. Around the same time, infrastructural collapses occurred in Rajkot and Jabalpur airports. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Over the past couple of weeks, Bihar—one of the states where development is directly equated with infrastructure—has witnessed a shocking series of bridge collapses. More than 10 bridges have collapsed, leading to the suspension of around 15 engineers. The entire idea of ‘Vikash (development)’ seems to be in the process of being shattered. But the larger point of ponderance is: are most of the inefficient engineers posted in Bihar itself? The answer is, no. More than the question of efficiency, it is a matter of integrity. The state is excessively plagued with corruption piercing through multiple levels of administration and governance.
It is an undeniable fact that lost lives and human suffering are the most disastrous fallouts of infrastructural lapses, but the repercussions are not so limited. Infrastructure is one of the most prominent pillars of the economy; its dilapidated state will have an unfailing impact on the trend of economic growth. India, which aims to become a 5-trillion-dollar economy, has invested heavily, and strategically, in the infrastructure sector. India's capital expenditure, as a percentage of GDP, increased from 1.7 per cent in 2014 to nearly 2.9 per cent in 2022-23. A total of Rs 10 lakh crore was allocated to the infrastructure sector in Budget 2023-24—a three-fold increase over 2019. According to the rating agency CRISIL, India is expected to invest nearly Rs 143 lakh crore in infrastructure over the seven fiscal years leading up to 2030. This amount is more than double the approximately Rs 67 lakh crore spent during the previous seven fiscal years from 2017 to 2023. The approach towards infrastructure development has been, in fact, very comprehensive. Quite recently, Morgan Stanley praised the PM Gati Shakti scheme for providing a fillip to India’s infrastructure development and multi-modal connectivity across highways, railways and ports. Another flagship infrastructure initiative, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), has been expanded to include 9,288 projects—both brownfield and greenfield ventures—with a total outlay of Rs 108.88 lakh crore between 2020-25.
These efforts on the part of the government are impressive and essential but will hold little relevance if shadowed by implementation glitches—as evidenced by recent infrastructure collapses. India’s proactive infrastructure push must be accompanied by the sustainability factor to remain relevant.
