Indian villagers are able to PICK UP newly-laid street

A road that peels up like a carpet and a bridge that has collapsed… TWICE: Disasters and howlers plague Indian construction projects amid claims of widespread corruption

• Locals discovered that a newly-laid road was just lying on a thin layer of cloth
• They described the work as bogus and social media users warned of corruption
• On the other side of the country a 3km bridge spectacularly collapsed into river 

Indian villagers have exposed the laughable quality of roads built under an Indian government project by rolling up the edges of the street like carpet. 

In an astounding clip posted to social media, four men are seen squatting by the side of the road in a village in the Jalna district of India’s Maharashtra state. 

At first glance it looks as though they are attempting to fold a grey rug of some sort, but the camera quickly pans out to show the villagers are in fact tugging at what was supposed to be newly-laid tarmac leading out of the village.

The camera then zooms in to show the pitiful layers of material resembling bitumen, which appeared to have been slapped on top of a large piece of cloth to cover the existing dirt road like a plaster over a wound. 

Indian outlets Times Now and the Pune Mirror reported that the villagers went on to slam the contractors for what they described as ‘bogus’ work.

‘This is all bogus work being carried out in the name of ”development”,’ one was quoted as saying. 

Meanwhile, some 1,500 kilometres away on the other side of the country in the Bhagalpur district, Bihar, locals watched on in horror as a huge bridge spectacularly collapsed into the Ganges river below.

Indian outlets Times Now and the Pune Mirror reported that the villagers went on to slam the contractors for what they described as ‘bogus’ work

The men can be seen lifting up the road like a piece of carpet in sheer disbelief

In Bihar state, locals watched on in horror as a huge bridge spectacularly collapsed into the Ganges river

In 2000, the Indian government launched an initiative called the Prime Minister’s Village Road Scheme (PMGSY).

The intention was to construct a network of all-weather roads to link rural villages across India, thereby improving connectivity and encouraging industrialisation, urbanisation and social mobility. 

The scheme, which is still ongoing, claims to have laid some 808,000 kilometres of rural roads in the past two decades. 

It was initially fully funded by the government, but in recent years the funding was reduced and states were forced to shoulder some of the financial burden.

Many social media users speculated that state officials had skimped on quality, giving cheap contracts to low bidders and pocketing the difference. Others meanwhile simply poked fun at the shoddy workmanship. 

‘Is it a road? Is it a carpet?’ one wrote, while another chipped in: Very good technology! This is called factory-made Road! Just dispatched the required quantity of rolls at the site, unroll it and all is done!’

A third wrote: ‘Wherever there is ‘ruling party’ government, there is only loot and corruption!’

Incredible footage from the riverbank showed locals watching on in stunned silence as the collapsing concrete sprayed water dozens of metres into the air

Villagers exposed the shoddy road quality in Jalna, while some 1500 kilometres away, a huge bridge collapsed in Bhagalpur

The Maharashtra Rural State Road Development Agency later hit back, asserting that they had employed ‘innovative construction technology’ to ensure the longevity and durability of the roads, according to The Hindustan Times.

An agency official reportedly said the villagers’ attempt to remove the ‘stress-absorbing membrane interface layer’ occurred while the roadwork was still in progress. 

But authorities in Bihar may not be able to tell the same story.

The Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge, which measures more than three kilometres in length, unceremoniously imploded and crashed into the Ganges river.

The incredible structure was undergoing construction, having already collapsed once last November. 

National Disaster Response teams are conducting a search for one guard who was reported missing in the wake of the incident.

One worker was killed in the previous collapse. 

Incredible footage from the riverbank showed locals watching on in stunned silence as the collapsing concrete sprayed water dozens of metres into the air. 

The state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a probe into the incident and has vowed to discover those responsible for the structural failure. 

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