Why is India neglecting its road bridges?

It is an alarming call for the assessment of bridges in India, especially post the collapse of an 88-year-old bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway. To evaluate the structural health of all the bridges in a time-bound manner, a Bridge Management Information System (BMIS) was set up in February. However, since the launch, the government has yet to appoint a consultant for national highways in Maharashtra, as per reports.  The consultants appointed are tasked with mapping the bridges and then compiling details, which include the year of construction, and schedule for rehabilitation and repair or maintenance. BMIS, the IT-based system will automatically give alerts or generate a pop-up mentioning the maintenance schedule of bridges. In the case of the Mumbai-Goa highway bridge collapse, officials of the union road transport ministry have reportedly said that a new two-lane bridge was built by the Maharashtra Public Works Department in 1999 after the colonial bridge was noted to be weakening. However, traffic was allowed to ply on the old bridge. It is known that the ministry had already approved a plan to widen the Mumbai-Goa highway to a four-lane road.