Another day, another bridge collapse in Bihar: 10th such incident in two weeks

PTI, Jul 4, 2024, 12:32 PM IST

Patna: Another instance of bridge collapse came to the fore in Bihar on Thursday, making it the 10th such incident to have been reported from the state in just over a fortnight, an official said.

The latest incident was reported from Saran which witnessed two more bridge collapses in the last 24 hours, District Magistrate Aman Samir said.

No casualty was reported after the structure, built 15 years ago by local authorities, collapsed this morning, he said.

The small bridge over the Gandaki river was situated in the Baneyapur block and used to connect several villages in Saran with the neighbouring Siwan district.

“The small bridge was constructed 15 years ago. I am going to the spot. Several other officials of the district administration have already reached there. The exact cause of the bridge collapse is yet to be ascertained but desilting work was recently undertaken,” the district magistrate told PTI.

On Wednesday, the Saran district witnessed the collapse of two small bridges – one in Janta Bazar area and another in Lahladpur area.

“A high-level probe has been ordered to find out the reason for the collapse of these small bridges in the district,” the DM said.

According to locals, heavy rainfall for the last few days in the district might have contributed to the collapse of these small bridges.

Altogether 10 bridges collapsed in Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj districts in the past 16 days.

The latest incident took place a day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar directed the road construction and rural works departments to conduct a survey of all old bridges in the state and identify those that require immediate repair.

The CM had on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review the maintenance policies and said the road construction department has already prepared its bridge maintenance policy and the rural works department should immediately chalk out its plan at the earliest.

Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Bihar government to undertake structural audits and set up an expert committee to identify weak bridges which can be either strengthened or demolished based on the findings.