Gujarat’s Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department has closed a bridge over the Karjan river in Narmada district to vehicles and filed a police complaint against the Surat firm that built it. Royal Infra Engineering Pvt Ltd finished the Rs 10.71 crore bridge on the Rajpipla-Ramgadh (Navagam) road in August 2020, so it carried traffic for barely six years before engineers declared it unsafe.
The department lodged the complaint at Rajpipla police station on Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s instructions, PTI reported on Sunday. Patel also ordered disciplinary proceedings against officials and staff held responsible, under the Gujarat State Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1971, according to an IANS report and ANI.
What inspectors found
An R&B inspection first spotted that one of the bridge’s foundations had settled into the riverbed. The department then sent its Quality Control Division to test the whole structure, and that team found defects in other parts too. Officials concluded the bridge could not safely carry vehicles and stopped traffic on it.
The dates matter here. The department awarded the contract in 2018-19, work began on 15 September 2018, and the R&B recorded physical completion on 14 August 2020. Road bridges are built to serve for decades. A foundation that sinks within six years points to how the bridge was built or inspected, since age cannot explain it. None of the reports so far name the sections invoked in the FIR or carry a response from the contractor.
Why the state is moving fast
Gujarat’s record on bridge safety has drawn scrutiny since 9 July 2025, when a span of the 40-year-old Gambhira bridge over the Mahi river in Vadodara district gave way during morning traffic. The collapse killed 22 people. In the weeks that followed, the state inspected more than 1,800 bridges, closed 20 and barred heavy vehicles from 113 more, and the Chief Minister suspended four R&B engineers. A replacement Gambhira bridge opened on 20 September this year.
The Karjan case differs in one important way. Critics blamed the Gambhira collapse on an ageing bridge that the state had failed to maintain. The Narmada bridge is new, which puts the contractor’s workmanship and the engineers who certified it at the centre. By filing an FIR over defects found before any accident, the government is treating poor construction quality itself as a possible criminal matter.
What it means for Narmada residents
The Rajpipla-Ramgadh road links the district headquarters at Rajpipla with villages along the Karjan in a tribal-majority district. Until the department repairs or rebuilds the bridge, buses, farm vehicles and two-wheelers that used it will need another crossing. The reports do not say how long the closure will last or what diversion the department has set up, and local commuters will want both answers soon.
Repair costs are another open question. The reports do not say whether the state will try to recover them from the firm.
What to watch next
- Whether the R&B department publishes the Quality Control Division’s findings on the bridge.
- Whether the state blacklists Royal Infra Engineering from future government tenders.
- Which officials face proceedings, and whether the department orders checks on other bridges completed in the same period.
Sources: PTI via ThePrint, IANS via SocialNews.XYZ, ANI via Asianet Newsable, Wikipedia: Gambhira Bridge collapse
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.