Gujarat Plans Unified Policy To Reinforce Government Infrastructure

The proposed policy signals major changes in areas such as audits and inspections of old and dilapidated structures and roads, environmental risk assessment, design standards, budgeting, and expenditure planning.

In particular, the state government has begun preparations to draft an action plan that includes conducting audits of buildings, bridges, and roads that are more than two decades old, compiling recommendations for their renovation, repair, or reconstruction, and allocating a separate budget and expenditure framework for the same.

While the state government frames policies across various departments, the absence of a specific policy or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the Roads and Buildings Department has often resulted in significant loss of life and property during accidents. Taking seriously the fact that more than a dozen bridges have collapsed over the last 10 years, a proposal has now been placed for structured policy planning in this department.

Rapid Urbanisation

A senior official from the Roads and Buildings Department stated that rapid urbanisation and population growth in the state are posing multiple challenges for the government. During the recently held 12th Chintan Shibir, strengthening government infrastructure was discussed in depth.

Several experts and government engineers offered crucial suggestions and recommendations regarding the repair of old and dilapidated buildings and bridges or demolishing them and constructing new ones. These discussions also brought to light budgetary constraints and administrative negligence in maintenance.

According to a senior engineer of the department, during the current year the department inspected 1,477 major bridges and 8,017 minor bridges, which were categorised as Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, and Critical. Of these, 150 bridges were approved for immediate repair or reconstruction.

Meanwhile, over the past four years, the department has demolished 4,197 unsafe and dilapidated buildings. Every year, approvals are granted to demolish such hazardous structures and replace them with new ones. The government has now begun deliberations to formulate a single comprehensive policy covering bridges, buildings, and roads.

Snapshot of Government Infrastructure

In the state, bridges and roads are managed by the Roads and Buildings, Water Resources, and Urban Development Departments, while the construction and maintenance of government buildings are handled by the Roads and Buildings, Water Resources, Health, Urban Development, Panchayat, and Tribal Development Departments.

• Major bridges: 1,861
• Minor bridges: 17,711
• Total bridges: 19,572
• All road network: 267,307 km
• Government buildings: 46,179

Policy Prescriptions For Bridge Safety:

• Timely inspection of heavy vehicles
• Monitoring unauthorised mining or utility installations
• Review of water-retaining structures
• Creation of a dedicated bridge wing/cadre
• Monitoring through AI, sensors, and IoT
• Training for inspection, monitoring, and maintenance
• Development of an Asset Management System (AMS)
• Implementation of Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems
• SOPs to prevent bridge collapses
• Adequate budget allocation and quality monitoring

Strengthening Government Structures:

• Complete prohibition on the use of unsafe buildings
• Mandatory structural audit every three years for buildings older than 20 years
• Training modules, technical tools, and digital systems
• Preparation of a routine maintenance policy with annual inspections
• Maintenance of a Building Maintenance Register
• Inspection and repairs as per fire safety norms
• Training programmes at NITs or IITs
• Fast-track filling of vacancies across all cadres
• Verification of new building designs
• Post-construction quality audits

Zero Tolerance for Unsafe Roads:

• Mandatory inspections before and after the monsoon
• Blacklisting contractors delivering substandard quality
• Eliminating fixed “cuts” for government engineers to curb corruption
• Monitoring through digital platforms
• Incentives for adopting new technologies
• Evaluation of existing practices
• Strict adherence to Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC)
• Adequate budget allocation and action against negligence
• Rapid recruitment of staff and personnel as per sanctioned strength