Morbi(d) Times
Before 30th October, you may not have heard of Morbi, the quaint little town in Gujrat. As word spread that over a hundred people had died while crossing a 143-year-old suspension footbridge, different reactions poured in. Some scratched their head wondering where Morbi was, some wondered “oh even Morbi had a suspension bridge” (most Indians only know about the Lakshman Jhula in Rishikesh) while others shrugged their shoulders and moved on with the thinking well parodied in DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge) as “Bade bade deshon mein aaisi choti choti baatein … hoti rehti hai (in big countries, these small things often occur).
Just under a week before, India had defeated Pakistan in a thriller T20 world cup game, Indian origin Rishi Sunak had become PM of the UK, and Indians all over the world had celebrated Diwali (and Delhites had shown their middle finger to Kejriwal). Literally, India was on a high. India Shining! World Jealous! Biden, Putin, Xi, and most importantly King Charles all were doing shashtang pranam to India and Indians. But alas, it didn’t last too long. Morbi took over.
The Smoking Gun
The 24X7 media of India swooped on this negative story. With the upcoming Gujrat elections, this had the potential to charge electioneering in poll-bound Gujrat. Also, it was a good opportunity to malign and embarrass the Modi-Shah duo. There was a rush in all forms of media (social, anti-social, Godi, Lutyens, etc.) to look for a smoking gun. Almost a 24-hour coverage started. As the body count piled; the live feed of the search operation, exclusive stories, the reaction of politicians, PM’s teary-eyed reactions, his itinerary, the ex-gratia payments, the facilities at the local hospital, overcrowding on the bridge, negligence of municipality and local administration, safety, contractual issues, corruption, dishonesty, immorality, etc., etc. were discussed in great detail. Everyone tried to outdo the other. Many channels tried without success to connect the dots of the tragedy to corruption at the local level which could then be connected to the state government and then to the central government, all managed by the ruling BJP. At the time of writing this piece, investigations have shown how bizarre some of the initial assumptions were. Yes, there was negligence and laxity in the approach. Yes, there was mismanagement. However, the biggest culprit was the “Chalta Hai (It’s ok, prolonged inaction)” attitude.
The real Smoking Gun
“Chalta Hai” attitude, regressive attitudes to risk management, safety, sense of discipline, inability to organize, and the inability to understand how to behave in public places are some of the primary culprits in the Morbi case. We cannot just hold the Morbi dead (and alive) responsible but this encompasses all of India (Yes, happy to generalize here). Just a few weeks ago, four friends died in a road accident while speeding at 230 kmph in a BMW (sorry it's not the BMW but the dead driver and absconding truck driver who were responsible). Reverse a little further, the ex-Chairman of Tata Group, Cyrus Mistry was also killed in an accident. At that time too, various theories were circulated but alas, it was a case of speeding.
In the Morbi case, one can clearly see overcrowding on the bridge, and lo and behold, at least one fellow can be seen swinging the bridge. Could overcrowding plus swinging (usually employed by young men to impress young women) in addition to the deterioration of the bridge have led to the incident? It probably will never be clear what caused the incident but one can safely say that India needs 2 things very urgently (and should have happened a while back): one, supremely better well-oiled infrastructure, and two, making people understand how to use the infrastructure. It’s important for people to understand that it is their life, it’s their infrastructure, and their country. The sense of ownership needs to kick in big time.
Once an incident like Morbi occurs, there is some crying over spilt milk by media and politicians, ex-gratia payments are announced (hope they are received) and within a week or two max, things are forgotten. The inquiry takes a long time and by the time the incident report is released and the culprits convicted it is 5–10 years — a very long time in anyone’s life. So there is no scope to learn anything from such incidents. Thus, the real smoking gun is complacency and the inability to learn and then implement steps to prevent such incidents. However, there will still remain one problem: What about individual duty in a country of 1.4 Billion people? Can people drive more carefully on roads? Can people make individual calls about what is safe for them and what is not? Can people make sure they avoid places that are not well structured? Actually, they will not! It is easier said than done because we have always seen India as it was and not what it can be. Personal responsibility and duty are not taken as seriously as they should be.
Finally…
Morbi is not an accident, event, or incident. it is a symptom of what India faces on a daily basis. More than 150k people die in India every year due to road accidents. Many more die because of insensitivity to their own health. Several buildings collapse every year. Many buildings and hutments are engulfed in fire every year. There are near misses in our skies. Many such deaths and situations are preventable.
We can heave a sigh of relief that rail accidents have reduced. That is a sign of good infrastructure (and better luck). We need more of both plus a sense of duty instilled in a large population. Easier said than done but a start needs to be made. Finally, like all things from the British era and before, the Morbi accident is a signal that we cannot rely on things from the pre-independence era to serve us appropriately unless they are maintained and transformed to meet our modern needs. Otherwise, we can expect Moribund (at the point of decline) infrastructure to invite Morbi(d) (interest in unpleasant topics like Death) times.
