Bihar govt, Opp trade blows after collapse of bridge over Ganga river

Patna/Bhagalpur/Khagaria, June 4: An under-construction bridge over the Ganga river collapsed in Bihar on Sunday, portions of which were deliberately destroyed in a planned fashion under expert advice as it had design flaws, claimed state government officials. The bridge was supposed to connect Khagaria district with Bhagalpur.
Images of the bridge collapse that took place in Khagaria evoked immediate criticisms from the opposition, prompting Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Additional Chief Secretary of Road Construction Department, Pratyay Amrit, to hold a hurried press conference.
“It may be recalled that a portion of this bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year. We had, thereafter, approached IIT-Roorkee, 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,” Yadav said at the press conference.
Amrit, 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 bridge.” Once 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 said.
The bridge was said to have involved an estimated cost of Rs 1,700 crore.
“Last 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 CM’s resignation over the issue. (PTI)