Bihar's bridge collapse: Days after the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee submitted its probe report to the state Road Construction Department. The premier institute was hired for the investigation of the bridge collapse that took place on June 4 -- the second such incident in 14 months.
Confirming the development, a Road Construction Department official promised to take further action on the basis of the report. "We will discuss on the point of investigation IIT Roorkee has done followed by its recommendation to take decisions. We will soon prepare a new Detail Project Report (DPR) to construct a new bridge. It will be constructed in a time-bound manner," he stated. The officer, however, did not share the details of the report publicly.
Bihar govt suspends executive engineer of Khagaria
As the Bihar government became the cynosure of criticism following the bridge collapse, it also suspended an executive engineer of Khagaria. Further, it has also issued a show cause notice to the SP Singla Construction Pvt. Ltd, which was developing the bridge, and asked it to reply within 15 days on why the state government should not blacklist it.
The four-lane road bridge project connected Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district and Aguwani Ghat in the Khagaria district. It was supposed to start for public use on the birthday of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on June 11 this year. The under-construction bridge involved a cost of over Rs 1,700 crore and was supposed to be completed by 2019. The foundation stone of the structure was laid in February 2014, by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
CM Nitish Kumar assures to bring defaulters to book
Earlier on June 5, CM Kumar said strict action would be taken against those found guilty, even as the opposition BJP alleged that Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav was "hiding the truth" in the incident. The saffron party slammed Yada for his comment that "many structural defects" of the bridge have been pointed out by experts, and "the state government has already pulled down many portions which have been flagged as particularly vulnerable".
Notably, the bridge would be the sixth on the Ganga River to connect northern Bihar with its south, reducing the time to travel to Sultanagnj, Khagaria, Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul.
(With inputs from agencies)
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