Saw the movie “Madaari” about bridges falling and killing people. The movie says bridges fall because of ministers. If only the ministers were good, the bridges would not fall.
Searching the web, I learned that construction collapses are rather common in India.
I wondered, why don’t bridges and buildings fall in the USA and kill people?
Then I realized, that’s not strictly true. Sometimes a barge or something hits a bridge, sometimes a tornado can break a bridge.
But bridges or buildings falling by themselves?
Yes, that can happen. Parts of a bridge fell in Boston, and killed a woman driver. Long time ago, I think 1990s. Single incident, sticks in mind, because it was so single!
Turned out the bridge in Boston fell because the construction companies worked for Mafia, and they were stealing the government money by supplying shoddy material and cutting corners…
So corruption can cause bridges to fall. In USA. And also in India, I think.
The difference is, in the USA people are honest. They can turn dishonest, no doubt. Even the most honest person can be forced into dishonesty, or fall into dishonesty. But as a general rule, people are honest to start with. So corruption happens some of the time, and is limited.
In India, it seems it would be a miracle for somebody to be honest in ANY bridge or building project. Any honest person would be forced into dishonesty, so it’s safe to say there are no honest people in such projects.
The movie was totally lying. The bridges do not fall because of politicians. Absolutely not. Politicians are just convenient scapegoats for evil ghoulish movie-makers out to make money from deaths, without addressing the real issues.
Bridges fall because of the people.
The people who die under the bridge – take any one of them. Put him/her in a Public Works Department office as a government official. Is there any, any, chance that he/she would not have taken bribes from the contractors?
Make him/her a contractor. Is there any, any, chance that he/she would not have given bribes and cut costs from material?
So who is to blame?