How Corruption, Poor Infrastructure Are Costing Quality Life To Indians - DNA Decodes

In the past few months, India has witnessed a string of infrastructure failures including roads washing away before inauguration to bridges collapsing under normal usage. These aren’t isolated incidents but signs of a system riddled with mismanagement, internal power tussles, and deep-rooted corruption.

A case from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu reveals a newly constructed state highway washed away in its first rainfall. In Bengaluru, a footpath built in April was dug up again in July. Whether it’s the race for bureaucratic control or profits from repeated construction, it is the common man who suffers.

In today's DNA, Zee News Managing Editor, Rahul Sinha decorded how Corruption and poor Infrastructure Are Costing Quality life to Indians after several incidents of bridge collapse repored across the nation.

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A 2020 report highlights that between 1977 and 2017, 2,130 bridges collapsed in India of which 10 per cent were due to poor construction material. From 2021 to 2024, 21 bridges collapsed. Government data shows that from 2019 to 2024 alone, 42 bridges fell.

Therefore, Bihar leads in bridge collapse incidents. The CAG report reveals that up to 40 percent of infrastructure project budgets are lost to corruption. 

On average, building 1 km of road costs Rs 25–50 crore, while 1 km of bridge or elevated road costs Rs 250–300 crore. Poor construction not only hampers development but also drains the exchequer.

In the last 15 years alone the Bridge collapses cost Rs 40,000 crore, the total Washed-out roads cost Rs 3 lakh crore and Footpath repairs added Rs 1 lakh crore.