By Neeraj Kumar
Patna: The Bihar government has taken swift action against those responsible for the collapse of a bridge in Araria before its inauguration. So far, two engineers have been suspended and the contractor has been blacklisted. Criminal charges have been filed against all parties involved, and a committee has been formed to investigate the incident.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s NDA government, facing significant embarrassment after multiple bridge collapses in the state, announced the suspension of the executive engineer, assistant engineer, and junior engineer. A team has been dispatched from Patna to conduct a thorough investigation, with further actions to follow based on the investigation report. The contractor responsible for the construction has been blacklisted with immediate effect.
The bridge, constructed by the Rural Works Ministry of Bihar at a cost of ₹12 crores, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon. Two pillars of the bridge over the Bakra river in the Sikti block’s Padariya Ghat sank, causing the entire structure to collapse. Although the bridge was completed, it was not yet open to traffic due to the lack of an approach road. The bridge collapsed like a pack of cards when water surged in the seasonal Bakra river, with the incident’s video going viral and causing widespread embarrassment for the government.
The bridge was built in three phases: the first two phases by the Bridge Construction Corporation of Bihar, which constructed eight pillars, and the third phase by the Rural Works Department, which added eight more pillars at a cost of ₹8 crores. Notably, the pillars constructed by the Rural Works Department collapsed, while those built by the Bridge Construction Corporation remained intact.
In response to the incident, the Central Government held the Nitish Kumar administration accountable. Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari clarified that the bridge was not under the jurisdiction of the Union Road Transport Ministry but was a project of Bihar’s Rural Development Ministry. He addressed the public on social media to dispel any misconceptions about the central government’s involvement, emphasizing that the collapsed bridge was solely a state project.
