Eleven engineers of the water resources department in Bihar have reportedly been suspended over the collapse of 10 bridges within 15 days in the state. The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government also ordered the reconstruction of the new bridges, reports said, adding that the cost of the same will be imposed on the contractors found guilty.
The decision was taken after the flying squads submitted their reports, as per India Today. The reports of the flying squads pointing flagged that negligent engineers and ineffective monitoring as the main reasons behind the collapse of the bridges.
With a fresh bridge collapse in Bihar's Saran district on Thursday, the state reported 10th such incident in just over a fortnight. The bridge over Gandaki river that collapsed was located in Baneyapur block and connected several villages in Saran with the neighbouring Siwan district.
"It was constructed 15 years ago. The exact cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained, but desilting work was recently undertaken," the district magistrate told news agency PTI.
District Magistrate Aman Samir said it was the third bridge collapse in Saran in the last 24 hours. "A high-level probe has been ordered to determine the causes of these small bridge collapses in the district," he said.
On Wednesday, four small bridges collapsed in Saran and Siwan districts. Locals said heavy rainfall over the last few days might have triggered their fall.
In all, ten bridges have collapsed in Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran, and Kishanganj districts over the past 16 days.
Commenting on it, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary told reporters, "The CM, after a review meeting on Wednesday, has instructed officials to conduct a survey of all old bridges and identify those that require immediate repairs."
Chaudhary, who is also the state BJP president, said the government has already ordered a probe into the bridge collapses.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, however, claimed that 12 bridges have collapsed in Bihar since June 18.
In a post on X on Thursday, he wrote, "Twelve bridges have collapsed in Bihar since June 18...Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are silent over these incidents in Bihar. What happened to the claims of good governance and a corruption-free government? These incidents show how corruption is rampant in every department of the state government."
RWD minister Ashok Choudhary slammed Tejashwi Yadav for his remark, saying, "The RJD (Tejashwi) leader must remember that he held the RWD portfolio for more than 15 months during the previous Mahagathbandhan government. What was he doing then? The previous RJD-led Bihar government and he should be held responsible for this mess."
