The first incident of a bridge collapse was reported on June 18 in Araria. The latest one took place in Madhubani.
An under-construction bridge collapsed in Bihar, making it the fifth such incident in the past 11 days. The bridge collapsed in Madhubani district’s Jhanjharpur.
The latest bridge, measuring 77 meters in length, saw a section of its long girder between two pillars collapse. To hide this negligence, the administration covered the broken section with plastic, aiming to prevent public awareness of the collapse.
This bridge, being built under the Prime Minister’s Rural Road Scheme by Bihar’s Rural Development Department, had an estimated cost of around Rs 3 crore.
Documents obtained by India Today TV reveal that this bridge had collapsed before June 24. On that date, Executive Engineer of the Rural Works Department, Ramashish Paswan, informed the contractor, Amarnath Jha, via a letter that a section of the bridge had hung precariously and needed to be rebuilt.
In response, contractor Amarnath Jha argued that the sudden rise in water levels in the Kosi River just three days after casting the girder led to the section hanging. He claimed that reconstruction would occur once the water levels receded.
This latest incident highlights ongoing issues of negligence and corruption in bridge construction in Bihar. Over the past 11 days, four other bridges have collapsed, raising serious questions about construction standards and oversight.