Critical Infrastructure (Resilience, Protection and Accountability) Bill, 2026 Introduced in Rajya Sabha

A legislative bill titled the Critical Infrastructure (Resilience, Protection, and Accountability) Bill, 2026 (the “Bill”) has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill seeks to impose criminal accountability for infrastructure failures resulting in loss of life, addressing concerns that responsibility is often diffused across contractors, consultants, operators, concessionaires, and layered corporate structures.

The proposed framework aims to formally identify and classify “critical infrastructure” of national, economic, and life-critical importance, including dams, expressways, power grids, ports, urban transit systems, and other strategic assets.

The legislative premise recognizes that failure of such infrastructure, whether arising from defective design, substandard construction, inferior materials, or operational negligence, should not be viewed merely as a contractual breach but as a matter implicating public trust and safety, thereby justifying the imposition of statutory liability. The objective, therefore, is to address this imbalance by vesting appropriate responsibility in those involved in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of critical infrastructure assets.

The bill further advocates that every physical critical infrastructure asset be supported by a functional “digital twin” to enable real-time structural health monitoring, stress testing, and predictive maintenance.