Weakness of technology or dishonesty… the old infrastructure withstood floods and earthquakes, how did the new one get washed away in water?

Cities drowning in rain and floods, why is the infrastructure built by various governments of our country not strong? Whereas in this country, bridges, buildings and big structures built during the era of Mughals, Hindu kings and British are still safe in the same form. In the last 24 hours, 42 people have died in our country due to rain and floods while 52 people are still missing. Out of these, 11 deaths have occurred in the country’s capital Delhi, 15 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, 10 deaths in Uttarakhand, 4 deaths in Jaipur and two deaths in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh and 52 people are still missing there. Among these, some people died due to electric shock in the rain, some died by drowning in drains and basements and some people died due to the collapse of the roof and wall of their house.

Today, a pothole on a road in Delhi is being discussed all over the country. Every person in Delhi pays Rs 80,000 as tax to the government annually. In Gurugram, Rs 2.5 lakh, in Mumbai Rs 2.25 lakh, in Bengaluru Rs 1.5 lakh, in Ahmedabad Rs 70,000 and in Chennai, every person pays Rs 75,000 as tax to the government annually. The roads, highways, bridges, hospitals, schools and airports that the government builds with this tax money fall into a bad state within a few years.

Water filled at the main terminal of Jaipur International Airport

The main terminal of Jaipur International Airport was flooded with so much water that passengers had to struggle for several hours. This is not just about this airport. At present, there are flood-like conditions in almost all areas of Jaipur and in some areas, the situation is such that hundreds of houses have been submerged in rainwater and three members of a family have also died in this.

These people were living in the basement of a house, where they died due to drowning after rainwater filled in it. This is the condition of Jaipur, where the government spends Rs 400 crore every year on infrastructure from the public’s tax money.

Mother and daughter’s bodies flown from Delhi to Noida

The condition of the country’s capital Delhi is not very different, where the infrastructure has given up in just a few years due to rain and floods. After the rain in Delhi yesterday evening, more than 32 underpasses were flooded, traffic on more than 70 link roads came to a halt and flood-like conditions were created in many residential areas.

The most surprising thing is that the Institute of Town Planners of India, which plans the development of cities, today could not protect its own building from rain water. The condition of Delhi has become such that more water was seen on the roads of Delhi than in the Yamuna river. It is not just about the rain and the waterlogging caused by it.

In Ghazipur, Delhi, a woman and her three-year-old daughter were swept away in a drain during the rains and now their bodies have been found 7 kilometers away near Noida. Similarly, in another area of ​​Delhi, a person died due to the collapse of the roof of a house. While in another area, a student died while going to a coaching center due to electric shock from power lines. This is happening in the country’s capital Delhi.

Several feet of water filled in Old Rajendra Nagar

The pictures from Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar shocked everyone, where last week three students died due to waterlogging in the basement of a coaching centre. But yesterday once again this area was flooded with several feet of water and the basements of coaching centres which were sealed by MCD were once again filled with rainwater. This is the condition of the area where students from all over the country come to prepare for the UPSC exam to become IAS, IPS and IFS officers.

Last week, the coaching institute of RAU’S Study Circle, where three students died due to flooding in the basement, was established in 1953, six years after independence, and at that time Dr. S. Rao had laid the foundation of this coaching institute. Dr. S. Rao wanted to prepare such youth in India who could join the bureaucracy and change the system of India. For this, at that time he started teaching students in a small room of a hotel in Connaught Place, but by the year 1980, this coaching center turned into a very big shop of education and today it has 3 big outlets across the country. Its annual revenue is Rs 10 crore.

Cyber ​​City becomes ‘Lake City’

Now let’s talk about Gurugram which is called the cyber city of India. But the cyber city has now become a ‘lake city’. The people of Gurugram pay a tax of Rs 2.5 lakh annually to the government, but now everything from luxury cars to big bungalows and houses are submerged in the flood. There are more than 24 thousand big and multinational companies in Gurugram and there are many housing societies in Gurugram where there are flats worth Rs 100-100 crore.

Recently, a new luxury housing project came up there, which had 795 flats and the average price of each flat was Rs 7 crore. All these flats were sold in a record three days even before they were built. The infrastructure of Gurugram, where people are spending crores of rupees to buy such expensive flats and bungalows, is such that it cannot bear even a short spell of rain. Today, three people have died due to electric shock in Gurugram.

52 people missing in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are the worst hit by rain and floods. 2 people have died due to cloudburst in Kullu and other areas of Himachal Pradesh while 52 people are still missing and it is feared that these people have also died. In Himachal Pradesh, many buildings have collapsed and have been submerged in the overflowing rivers in the last 24 hours. This flood has badly affected the entire road network of Himachal Pradesh. In the last one year, about 5 thousand crore rupees were spent on building roads, bridges and dams in Himachal Pradesh. But this infrastructure could not withstand even 24 hours of heavy rain.

When a tunnel or road is constructed in the mountains, two things are given utmost attention. Firstly, the road should be able to withstand all kinds of weather conditions and secondly, the quality of the infrastructure should be such that it does not have to be repaired again and again. But the rain of the last 24 hours has exposed the infrastructure of Himachal Pradesh.

Kedarnath Yatra had to be stopped in Uttarakhand

At the same time, two people died due to cloudburst in Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. While in Kedarnath also, a 30-meter road got submerged in the Mandakini river due to cloudburst. This is the same road which was reconstructed in the year 2020, but in just four years, this road collapsed in the rain and now due to this the Kedarnath Yatra has been stopped and now 200 devotees are stranded there. In this tragedy, the local shopkeepers of Kedarnath have increased the prices of food and other things by two to three times. Here the common man has started looting the other common man.

Difference between new and old infrastructure

Now let us tell you what is the difference between our new and old infrastructure? Today, new roads, expressways, buildings, airports and railway stations are being built in our country, but they start collapsing in just one rain. Water gets filled inside or the roof starts leaking and this is the situation even when the governments spend 10 to 11 lakh crore rupees on infrastructure in our country every year.

Every year 74 thousand crore rupees are spent on new infrastructure in Maharashtra, 11 thousand crore rupees in Delhi, 18 and a half thousand crore rupees in Haryana, 5 thousand crore rupees in Himachal Pradesh, 13 thousand crore rupees in Uttarakhand and 1 lakh 47 thousand crore rupees in Uttar Pradesh. But this infrastructure collapses in a single rain and you will be surprised to know that the average life of concrete roads in India should be 25 years but most of such roads collapse in just 4 years.

These buildings have been standing for centuries

This is the infrastructure that has been built in the last few decades and is a new infrastructure. But have you ever thought that the old infrastructure in our country remains standing like this amidst winter, summer, rain and storm.

Qutubuddin Aibak, the ruler of the slave dynasty in Delhi, built the Qutub Minar in the 13th century. This Qutub Minar has withstood rain, storms and even thousands of earthquakes for the last 800 years but it never collapsed. Similarly, Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya built the Kedarnath temple in the eighth century, about 1200 years ago. There was a time when this temple remained buried under snow for 400 years and there were many floods here. But even after 1200 years, this temple is safe in its original form.

British construction is still strong today

Similarly, the British built the Howrah Bridge on the Hoogly River in Calcutta in 1942 and even today, after 82 years, this Howrah Bridge built by the British is completely safe. Similarly, in the year 1920, the British built a wall along the Arabian Sea to connect Nariman Point to Malabar Hills in Mumbai city, along which Marine Drive was built and this wall is also completely safe today after 104 years, even though the powerful waves of the sea hit this wall every day.

The building in Mumbai where BMC’s office is located was constructed by the British in 1893. Today, BMC’s office is located in this building built by the British and this building is still safe even after facing rain, storm, typhoon and many earthquakes. But the infrastructure that BMC officials are building in Mumbai while sitting in this office does not last even for a few years. The same is the situation with Delhi’s India Gate, Red Fort and Agra’s Taj Mahal, which are safe even after three centuries.