Infrastructure failures often turn into crises of political legitimacy. Discuss, highlighting the role of transparency in public procurement.

Citizens treat public infrastructure as the state's most visible promise, so its collapse can read as a breach of the social contract. In Serbia, the 2024 canopy collapse at Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people and was widely blamed on corruption. It led to nearly two years of student-led protests and a snap election [1].

How failures become legitimacy crises

• Corruption becomes visible: deaths make graft concrete. Public anger over Novi Sad focused on corruption rather than bad luck [1].
• Accountability gap: when investigations stall, blame moves from the contractor to the state. The UN human rights chief urged prompt, transparent investigations into the tragedy and into violence against protesters [2].
• Loss of trust: he also noted profound polarisation and a lack of trust in State institutions [2].
• Politics outside parties: a largely leaderless student movement fielded a "Students' List". Turnout reached 64.89% by 6 p.m., the highest in over three decades [1].

The limits of this argument

• Not every failure becomes a crisis. A quick inquiry, compensation and visible punishment can restore trust.
• High turnout shows that people mobilised. It does not by itself show a verdict against the government.

Role of transparency in public procurement

• Open tendering: Rule 159 of the General Financial Rules, 2017 requires tenders and contract awards to be published on the Central Public Procurement Portal. Rule 160 requires bids to be received electronically [3]. Both reduce officials' discretion and the scope for collusion.
• Integrity Pacts: bidders and buyers sign anti-corruption commitments, and Independent External Monitors nominated by the CVC oversee them [4].
• Audit: the CAG (Article 148) should add safety-focused performance audits, for example of station redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.
• Traceable certification: safety certificates should carry the names of the engineers who signed them, and quality-test results should be made public, so that responsibility stays with individuals.
• Citizen oversight: open contracting data, RTI and social audits allow the public to check the work before it fails.

Infrastructure failures turn into legitimacy crises when hidden corruption combines with weak accountability afterwards. Transparent procurement, safety audits and time-bound inquiries prevent disasters and also keep trust intact when they happen. This upholds the right to life under Article 21 and the goal of resilient infrastructure under SDG 9.