Mocking the State government’s decision to carry out a structural audit of all British-era bridges in the aftermath of the Mahad bridge collapse, the Shiv Sena on Saturday urged ministers, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to shun air travel, and instead travel by road to understand the seriousness of the problem.
“This is not a time to mourn the victims of the Mahad tragedy, but to seriously introspect…In a progressive State like Maharashtra, if so many lives are lost in accidents on bridges and roads every day, it is time to change the structure of Make in India and Make in Maharashtra. We will have to begin Make in Maharashtra at repairing the State’s bridges. No foreign investment will come and all the MoUs signed on foreign trips will remain on paper,” said an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana .
The editorial said the opposition needs to accept that the good work done by the first Sena-BJP alliance government (1995-1999) on constructing roads, flyovers and Mumbai-Pune Expressway had been undone by the successive Congress-NCP governments. “The opposition should first accept that nothing was done about this issue during the Congress-led government before demanding the resignation of Mr. Fadnavis.”
The editorial subtly suggested that it was time that the Fadnavis government placed Sena’s Eknath Shinde fully in-charge of the roads and bridges. The public works portfolio is divided between the BJP’s Chandrakant Patil and Mr. Shinde, who has been put in-charge of only the public works done by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
“If the Chief Minister wants to seriously carry out a structural audit of the old bridges, all ministers including, the CM, should stop travel by aircraft and helicopters. Permissions should be rejected for State-funded air travel for ministers and guardian ministers. They should be asked to travel through broken bridges and damaged roads, and then audit them. When their bones are shaken, and when they fear for their life, that’s when the audit will be done smoothly, and bridges will be repaired. The solution is bitter, but it will work,” the editorial said.
