Reports about instances of different kinds of structures crashing even before they were completed in many regions of the country, including Karnataka, don’t seem to have triggered either attention from the administration or debates in public domain among both professional fraternity in civil engineering sector and lay public, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of sound structures and victims of sub-standard ones. A report this week in a broadsheet provides a striking contrast to two eras of public servants, one devoted to excellence in work and the other engaging in work for personal gain. A 60-year-old bridge in one of the States remained unshaken even after two rounds of controlled explosion. A flyover in the same State, barely three years old, had to be closed due to structural defects and a decision taken to demolish it. Not many would have taken notice of the contrasting ethos on public service as the report was accommodated in one of the inside pages of the daily. We are talking of quality, an unwelcome term in our times, in respect of materials and human resources in virtually all sectors of the country’s economy.
While even the ruins of places where structures and sculptures that have endured for centuries stand testimony to the exquisite skills of those who created them, temples in their thousands across the country leave no scope for questioning their devotion to work and discipline in life. Both attributes are conspicuous by their absence in all spheres of life nowadays.
