00:00This isn't a professional excavation.
00:02These are ordinary villagers in the Kishni area of Uttar Pradesh, peeling off a newly
00:07constructed road with their bare hands.
00:09The road in Basait village, Mainpuri, was supposed to be a lifeline.
00:12Instead, it's become a viral symbol of disposable infrastructure.
00:16Built at a cost of Rs. 77 lakh, the surface is so brittle that children were able to pick
00:21it apart.
00:22Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav shared the clip, mocking the government's development
00:26claims and hitting at a much darker reality.
00:29A nexus of corruption where the bitumen is thin, but the profit margins are thick.
00:34But let's be clear, Mainpuri isn't an isolated case.
00:37It's a part of a recurring favour in India's infrastructure story.
00:41For years, we've seen the same script play out across the entire country.
00:48In the first half of 2025 alone, Bihar witnessed nearly a dozen bridges collapse, some even
00:54before they were inaugurated.
00:59In June 2024, an iron bridge over the Indirani River gave away, turning a tourist spot into
01:05a scene of death.
01:09In 2026, cities like Ghaziabad are already reporting monsoon-battered trolls, but the
01:14top layers have simply vanished, leaving behind craters.
01:17Similar potholes have claimed over 9,000 lives nationally in recent years.
01:22But why does this keep happening?
01:24Experts point to the L1 bidding system, where the government almost always picks the lowest
01:29bidder.
01:38When contractors underbid to win the tender, they cut corners on materials to make a profit.
01:52The Prime Minister recently set a mere deadline for the road transport ministry to fix these
01:57accountability gaps, but as the villages in Mainpuri have shown us, while the policy papers
02:02are being drafted, the roads are literally being peeled away.
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