Letters to The Editor — July 11, 2025
There are incidents in India, of late, of bridges collapsing even as they are being built. But the collapse of a portion of a 40-year-old bridge in Vadodara needs closer inspection. The reason for the collapse is not far to seek. For several decades, trucks have had four wheels at the rear and two in front. Such trucks with a total of six wheels are now obsolete. The bridge was probably one of many constructed with these trucks in mind. But now a number of trucks have 10 wheels to carry double the cargo, thus exponentially increasing the weight of the trucks. When such countless and slow-moving loaded trucks cross such bridges, the durability of the bridges comes into focus. In future, it must be ensured that bridges are constructed keeping this factor in mind (Page 1, July 10).
V. Lakshmanan,
Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
This is not an isolated incident but a growing symptom of a nationwide epidemic: ageing infrastructure, shoddy repair work, and officials asleep at the wheel. Bridges are not supposed to tremble under traffic. They are supposed to stand strong. Yet, time and again, weak design, poor oversight and sheer apathy turn them into traps. Our infrastructure is not the only thing crumbling. So is our governance. And people are paying for this with their lives.
K. Chidanand Kumar,
Bengaluru
End the wars
As a peace-loving citizen, a nonagenarian and as one who has lived through both the First and Second World Wars, I find it distressing that the Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestine-Israel conflict are leaving a trail of suffering. It would be my earnest and humble plea to the United Nations to earnestly get these warring nations to sit together and make a sincere attempt to usher in peace.
Mani Nataraajan,
Chennai
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