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  • 6/16/2025

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00:00If you travel by train in India, you could fall off the footboard.
00:03If you fly by flight, it might crash.
00:06And if you decide to skip both and simply walk across a bridge,
00:10well, that too might collapse under your feet.
00:13Welcome to India, where infrastructure kills slowly, surely and repeatedly.
00:19This is your honest take with me, Tejas.
00:21In today's video, we discuss the tragic collapse of a bridge in Pune district
00:26that claimed four lives and left many missing.
00:29But before that, please do subscribe to our channel if you haven't already
00:33and press the bell icon to never miss an important update.
00:36It was supposed to be a peaceful weekend getaway.
00:39Families and tourists gathered in the Kundmada area of Pune district near the Indrayani river.
00:45But at around 3.30 pm on June 15, 2025, joy turned into horror.
00:51An old iron bridge, rusted with time and neglect, built three decades ago for farmers, collapsed like a deck of fire.
00:58The bridge couldn't take the load of a crowd and a few two-willers.
01:02At least four people are dead, over 30 are injured, several still missing, possibly swept away.
01:08A bridge meant for pedestrians but neglected for decades, turned into a death trap.
01:14And here is the kicker. A new bridge had already been approved over a year ago.
01:19Work orders issued, files signed, press releases made, yet nothing on the ground.
01:25Not one foundation stone laid. Welcome to Maharashtra's bureaucratic legacy of approve.
01:30Now, forget later.
01:32This isn't one-off. This is a systematic rot. Let's take a stock.
01:36Just three days before this, on June 12, Air India flight AI-171 crashed in Ahmedabad.
01:42279 dead. The worst crash in the recent history.
01:46In 2024, roofs collapsed at Delhi's Terminal 1 and the newly opened Jabalpur airport.
01:52In Mathura, a water tank collapsed, killing two people.
01:55Between 2022 to 2024, 21 bridges collapsed on national highways across India.
02:01Somewhere still under construction. Every time we hear the same script.
02:05An enquiry has been ordered, compensation of rupees 5 lakh announced,
02:10safety audits will be conducted and then we move on.
02:14What doesn't move? The accountability.
02:16In India, concrete cracks faster than political promises.
02:20Let's go back to Pune.
02:22Why was an old rusting bridge still operational despite being declared unfit for heavy use?
02:28Why was there no barricade, no signage, no on-site security to stop the crowd?
02:33Why was the new bridge never built despite being grin-lit over a year ago?
02:38And who takes the blame for this? No one.
02:41Literally, at this moment when we are shooting this story,
02:45a section of Baba Sahib, Jaikar Mark in Mumbai's Girgao has caved in,
02:50causing the rear wheel of a Besk bus to get stuck in the sunken portion.
02:54Fortunately, no injuries were reported in this incident.
02:58But this is how it is. We have normalized these collapses.
03:02Roads caved in, bridges brake, highways buckle,
03:05and all we get are posters of condolences and statements of sorrow.
03:09The irony? In the same India where you need 25 permissions to open a food stall,
03:15you can let a dangerous bridge rot for years and no one blinks.
03:19Every time someone dies due to infrastructure failure,
03:22the state generously offers rupees 5 lakh.
03:26That's the price of a life in India.
03:28Not justice, not accountability, not resignations.
03:31Just a check.
03:32Can we really call ourselves a developing nation
03:35when we can't even maintain what we have already built?
03:38Hours after the collapse, top political leaders arrive at the site in Pune.
03:43Photos were clicked, promises made, structural audits announced.
03:47But let's rewind to 2022.
03:50Remember the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat?
03:52135 dead.
03:54Same pattern, same outrage, same promises.
03:57Has anything changed since then?
03:59No.
04:00Because our leaders are more focused on inaugurating new projects
04:04than maintaining the existing ones.
04:06Because in India, a collapsed bridge makes headlines for a day.
04:11And then, it is business as usual.
04:13India is building fast.
04:15But we are building without responsibility.
04:17According to a government study, over 2130 bridges collapsed in India between 1980 to 2022.
04:25Due to natural wear, overloading or just plain negligence.
04:28That's more than 50 bridges every year.
04:31Do we blame the engineers, the politicians, the system or all of them?
04:36Because until someone pays a real price, not just financially but criminally, this cycle won't stop.
04:43We want to be a 5 trillion dollar economy.
04:46We want bullet trains and smart cities.
04:48But we can't even stop roofs from falling and bridges from collapsing.
04:53What's the point of building sky-high dreams when the ground beneath our feet is crumbling?
04:58This isn't just a governance issue, it's a moral issue.
05:01Because when a government knows a structure is dangerous and still allows public access,
05:06that's not just incompetence, that's complicity.
05:09And what happens now?
05:11Another safety audit, another bridge inauguration, another rupees 5 lakh cheque.
05:15Let me ask you this, the next time you take a walk, a flight or a train,
05:20will you wonder, is this my last trip?
05:23Because in today's India, you don't die from fate, you die from failure.
05:27System failure, state failure and our failure to demand better.
05:32This was your honest take with me, Tejas on Lokhmad Times.
05:35Until next time, stay sharp, stay curious and don't stop asking tough questions.

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