'Design flaws': Bridge over Ganga river collapses in Bihar

Government officials in Bihar on Sunday claimed that an underconstruction bridge over the Ganga river collapsed portions of which were deliberately destroyed in a planned fashion under expert advice as it had design flaws reported PTIThe collapsed bridge was supposed to connect Khagaria district with BhagalpurWidespread criticism began after the visuals of the bridge collapse that took place in Khagaria emerged on social media sites and news outletsInitially we thought it was a blast later we understood that the bridge had collapsed This shows the corruption in govt This is not the 1st time this state govt is corrupted there should be a probe Rakesh Kumar an eyewitness of the AguwaniSultanganj bridge collapse told ANIDeputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Additional Chief Secretary of Road Construction Department Pratyay Amrit held a hurried press conference on the matterIt may be recalled that a portion of this bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year We had thereafter approached IITRoorkee which is esteemed for its expertise in construction matters to conduct a study It is yet to come up with a final report but experts who had studied the structure had informed us that there were serious defects PTI quoted Yadavs statement made at the press conferenceAmrit who took over added It was decided that we must not take any chance and wait for a final report So we went ahead with pulling down parts of the bridgeOnce the final report comes which is expected shortly the state government would contemplate action like lodging of FIR and blacklisting the company which was awarded the contract he saidThe bridge was said to have involved an estimated cost of Rs 1700 croreLast year a portion of this bridge had given away in a thunderstorm It was an incident which was widely talked about and I strongly raised it in my capacity as the then Leader of the Opposition Upon coming to power we ordered an inquiry and sought expert opinion said Yadav in an apparent riposte to the BJP now in opposition which sought the CMs resignation over the issueYadav disclosed that many structural defects have been pointed out by experts and we have already pulled down many portions which have been flagged as particularly vulnerable Todays incident confirms our worst apprehensionsNo casualties or injuries were reported in the incident that took place in the evening and was caught on camera by some bystanders As media outlets beamed the video footage state BJP president Samrat Choudhary came out with a statement demanding the resignation of Nitish Kumar who had snapped ties with the saffron party in August last yearFellow BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain a former Bhagalpur MP also came out with a statement blaming the mishap on corruption and demanding a highlevel inquiry into the incident He also alleged that the incident has put a question mark on construction works being undertaken across the state many of which have been awarded to the same contractorAmrit also said at the press conference that soon after the news of the incident was received he was summoned by the chief minister who sought a detailed report on the mishap and issued strict instructions for strong action against those who might be held responsible The bridge was being constructed at a cost of more than Rs 1 700 crore and it was supposed to have been completed by November 2019However Yadav asserted This bridge is of great importance for north Bihar where connectivity will greatly improve once it begins to function We are committed to completing the project after setting right everything that has been wrongYadavs Rashtriya Janata Dal meanwhile came out with a tweet pointing out that much of the construction took place during the tenures of Mangal Pandey Nand Kishore Yadav and Nitin Nabin as road construction ministers and asked whether the BJP would therefore take the blameWith inputs from agencies