Post by Dr Naga Venkatesh Devaguptapu

India needs climate-resilient infrastructure, not only fast infrastructure The Mumbai–Pune Expressway disruption shows a larger national problem: India is building infrastructure for economic ambition, but often underestimating environmental volatility. The Western Ghats are not ordinary terrain; they are ecologically sensitive, rainfall-heavy, landslide-prone, and geologically complex. In such zones, infrastructure planning cannot be treated as civil construction alone—it must integrate hydrology, geology, climate science, ecology, disaster management, and long-term maintenance. Every large road, tunnel, and bridge project should have a public-facing monsoon-readiness audit before inauguration. Stock phrases like “record-breaking project” and “engineering marvel” should be replaced by measurable indicators: drainage capacity, slope protection, emergency response, defect liability, and independent safety certification. India’s infrastructure dream will be credible only when quality, environment, and resilience become as important as cost, speed, and political visibility. #ClimateResilience #EnvironmentalImpact #InfrastructureDevelopment #WesternGhats #PublicPolicy Financial Express (India)