A bridge collapses in Minneapolis. A dam collapses in Rajasthan. How two democracies react gives us an insight to these democracies.

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In Minneapolis on August 1st a major interstate highway (I-35W) bridge with 8 lanes collapsed completely during rush hour (6 pm).  The collapse led to death of 8 (or so) people, several injured, and some people missing.  Over 50 cars plunged into the Mississippi when the bridge collapsed.  A school bus carrying children narrowly escaped and it took the quick thinking and action of one of the school staff to use the emergency exit and get all children out of the bus as it teetered on the edge.

For those interested, there is also a security camera video (from a building next to the bridge) that captured the bridge collapse showing the buckling of the bridge from one end to the other.

Now, this was a tragic accident and led one Senator to say "A bridge in America just shouldn't fall down".  The collapse has since led the Governor of Minnesota to order a review of over 700 bridges in Minnesota.  The Federal Govt. has also ordered a review of similar construction bridges all over the country.  The collapse has also led to a great amount of debate over “America's crumbling infrastructure” and how there is not enough adequate maintenance and money being allocated for the same.  There is now talk of additional gas tax to generate funds for infrastructure maintenance (and coming from Republicans, additional taxation, especially on gas, is not something that happens everyday).  Of course, part of the US response is also because of the symbolism of the bridge (one on an interstate highway) and what it means in the US; it is also touches a nerve because there is a pride about engineering quality, world-classness, etc.  Dams and embankments don't quite have the same symbolism in India, especially 'minor' ones ... As
could be expected, there are already voices questioning billions of dollars being wasted on the Iraq war to the utter neglect of the domestic US scene.

This was an email that a friend sent to his friends in India, comparing the response to a collapsing bridge and the policy changes that have begun to take place. Questions are already being asked of NTSB (the government organization charged with maintaining bridges, among other things) and investigations are on to understand who was accountable and what needs to be done to ensure that other bridges do not collapse.

Juxtapose this with India. In Madhya Pradesh alone, 168 dams have been labeled as ‘distressed’. Yet, the policy on water storage in the reservoirs of these dams has not been reviewed. Chandora dam, for example, is one such distressed dam.

Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and people says, “Way back in 1992, the dam had developed a breach, and it seems it was under rehabilitation in 1999. The breach in the 21-year-old dam raises many questions. The inflow into a dam that has a catchment of only 71 sq km, could be monitored, and should have been monitored when the dam has been described as distressed, and water should have been released in advance. Why was this not done was really very perturbing.”

On July 8^th, Jaswant Sagar Dam in Rajasthan sprung leaks in the central foundation and developed two breaches. Clearly there was no policy or inadequate policy with regards this 118 year old dam. While hurried evacuation reduced deaths, it was the two breaches that released the pressure on the dam – yet, there was massive destruction downstream. The reservoir was allowed to fill up to levels that may not have been appropriate given its condition.

Himanshu Thakkar notes in The Deccan Herald that “The 43.38m high Jaswant Sagar Dam is only one of the 100 large dams (of the total of over 4,600 large dams in India) that are already more than 100 years old. The largest number from this stock is in Rajasthan, 27 large dams. In addition, there are 381 large dams in India that are between 50 and 100 years old. And just to add a warning sign, not all dams built over the last 50 years are safe. According to the Madhya Pradesh government the state has 168 dams, which can be called distressed dams — out of which 63 dams are less than 50 years old.”

India is supposed to have an elaborate dam safety mechanism in place, starting from the resolution adopted at the first conference of state ministers for irrigation held at New Delhi as far back as on July 17-18, 1975. The Union government constituted the Dam Safety Organisation in the Central Water Commission in June 1979 to assist state governments on dam safety issues.

In Rajasthan alone, to strengthen dam safety activities, a Rs 109.68 crore project “Dam Safety Assurance and Rehabilitation” was initiated in 1991 with a loan from the World Bank. Unfortunately, what the project has left behind is a legacy of debt, unused infrastructure and unsafe dams.

In November 1996, the State Dam Safety Committee suggested (when the World Bank funded project was still on) addressing of problems in the Jaswant Sagar Dam — viz erosion of downstream area, signs of abrasion and cavitations developed in the dam. The Comptroller and Auditor General report for Rajasthan in 2001 noted, “Instead of removing these defects, the department incurred expenditure of Rs 27.61 lakh on 6 works, viz, renovation of the existing bituminous road (Rs 9.88 lakh), construction of foot bridge on overflow (Rs 7.19 lakh), providing sodium lights (Rs 4.06 lakh), purchase of generating set and diesel engine (Rs 1.25 lakh), purchase of wooden planks (Rs 4.50 lakh) and other petty items (Rs 0.73 lakh) under basic safety facilities component of Dam Safety Project. These works did not increase the utility of the dam and resulted in avoidable expenditure out of interest bearing loan assistance funds of the World Bank”. The consequences are before us.

Rajasthan government also had the advantage of satellite based information system that showed that the catchment area of the 12 km long dam with storage capacity of 40.83 million cubic meters was getting heavy rains. Government officials and ministers also knew that for many years the dam had not been filled to the capacity, so when so much water was supposed to flow into the dam, there was every possibility of the dam giving way. Particularly, when the government had not implemented the measures required for the safety of the dam. The dam has had a history of cracking up in the past (in 1979 and earlier) when it experienced heavy inflows. But neither the Rajasthan government nor the Central Water Commission did anything to avert this avoidable disaster.

Unlike the example in Minneapolis, the administration has not been accountable to the people either after the breach in Jaswant Sagar dam or with respect to the distressed dams across the country.

It is also interesting that there has been no serious debate in the media with respect to policies (or their absence) on these aging structures and the danger the pose.

The Government of India has claimed – perhaps since the days of Nehru and the Temples of Modern India – that building such dams and other massive projects show the engineering ability of India. The ability to maintain these dams and other infrastructure, to put together policies and processes that sustain the infrastructure and prevent accidents are also a sign of India’s capabilities. Unfortunately, that has been a weakness among India’s policy makers and leaders.