Bridge Collapse in Bihar: Over the last 17 days, at least 12 bridges have collapsed around the state of Bihar. The most recent event took place on Thursday in the Saran district. District Magistrate Aman Samir claims that this is the third bridge collapse in Saran in as many days. The fifteen-year-old bridge over the Gandaki River, which linked settlements in Saran to the nearby Siwan area, collapsed, although no injuries were reported.
Although the cause is still being looked into, officials have cited recent desilting work that has taken place nearby. Two of the three bridges in Saran, which are located on the Gandak River and are just a kilometer apart, collapsed on Wednesday in the course of two hours. One bridge was built close to the Dodh Nath Temple in 2004. The other was a building from the British era. On Thursday, a third bridge a fifteen-year-old construction across the Gandaki fell.
This tragedy occurs one day after the state’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar, ordered a survey of all the state’s historic bridges to determine which ones require immediate repair. The departments of rural works and road building have been urged by the chief minister to enhance their policies regarding bridge upkeep.
Why are Bridge Collapse in Bihar growing more frequent?
The WRD’s additional chief secretary, Chaitanya Prasad, stated that the age and poor construction quality of the bridges in Siwan and Saran played a major role in their collapse. According to Business Standard, he brought attention to the fact that a large number of buildings were built without following the required standards and had shallow foundations, which left them vulnerable to flooding.
Causes of recent spate of Bridge Collapse in Bihar
Experts and former engineers blamed inadequate quality control, non-adherence to design standards, improper supervision, and the use of subpar materials for the repeated collapses. In the meantime, a major contributing factor has been identified by certain government authorities as the massive influx of water from Nepal.
In Kisanganj, two bridges collapsed consecutively between June 27 and June 30. One was recorded in the village of Khoshi Dangi in Thakurganj, where on June 27, a strong downpour and associated rise in river water discharge damaged a bridge pillar that had been built in 2007–2008 with funds from the then-MP Taslimuddin.
Local Mukhiya Jawahar Singh claims that this has affected over fifty thousand people.
In the Bahadurganj neighborhood of Kisanganj, another bridge over the Maria River was damaged. The state rural works department constructed this bridge in 2011 during the NDA administration, with an estimated cost of Rs 25 lakh.
A bridge that was still under construction collapsed in East Champaran’s Ghodasahan neighborhood. Dheerendra Construction Company was carrying out the construction work at an anticipated cost of Rs 1.5 crore. The villagers attributed it to careless building.
On July 1, footage of the collapse of a temporary bamboo bridge on the Baghmati River in the Aurai subdivision of Muzaffarpur district went popular on social media.
According to locals, they annually construct temporary bridges at their own expense for transportation, which sustain damage during this time of year.
On July 3, three bridges in the Maharajganj block of Siwan district fell one after the other. There have been reports of three collapses: one in Bhikhabandh, one in Deoria panchayat, and one in Sikandarpur village. These buildings are more than thirty years old and were all funded by Prabhunath Singh, the MP at the time.
On June 18, a second bridge under construction over the Bakra river collapsed in Araria, Bihar. The project was scheduled to be finished by 2023 and was started in May 2021 at an estimated cost of almost Rs 8 crore.
The people who live there say that more money was required to complete building the approach road, which is what made it useless otherwise. It is stated that the shoddy and delayed construction directly affects more than two lakh people.
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Bridge Collapse in Bihar: Additional incidents
Two tiny bridges in Siwan, one across the Gandaki River in Deoria and the other in the Teghra block of the district, are said to have suffered the same fate on July 2. Following today’s collapse, there have been 12 in total during the last 17 days.
Bridge Collapse in Bihar: Reactions from the government and opposition
Tejashwi Yadav, a senior RJD leader, voiced his worries on social media, writing, “In Bihar, four bridges collapsed in a single day! Regarding this matter, neither the chief minister nor the two deputy chief ministers have said anything.
He demanded responsibility from the NDA government and attacked it: “The NDA should clarify who is responsible ponsible for these incidents,” said Yadav.
Yadav further stated, “It seems that under BJP’s governance, issues like corruption and crime are being ignored”
बिहार में डबल इंजन का अद्भुत खेल है, एक इंजन भ्रष्टाचार में लगा हुआ है और एक इंजन अपराध में लगा हुआ है। 𝟏𝟓 दिन में 𝟏𝟐 पुलों का गिरना कोई सामान्य घटना नहीं है। यह भ्रष्टाचार की पराकाष्ठा है।
जिस दिन से नीतीश कुमार सीएम बने हैं, सिर्फ 18 महीने को छोड़ दें तो पूरे समय ग्रामीण… pic.twitter.com/KuQyyIGK0v
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) July 5, 2024
Although the government points to de-siltation operations carried out in the state’s waterways and a lot of rain as potential Causes of recent spate of Bridge Collapse in Bihar.
The Nitish Kumar administration came under heavy fire from opposition parties who claimed inaction and corruption. Senior RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav criticized the NDA administration in a post on X that read, “Four bridges collapsed in Bihar in a single day! Regarding it, the state’s CM and both Dy CMs remain silent. Who is guilty should be revealed by the NDA government.
Bridge Collapse in Bihar: Litigation in the Public Interest
In the meantime, the Bihar government has been ordered by a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Supreme Court to conduct a structural assessment and form an expert committee to determine whether bridges can be strengthened or demolished in light of the findings.
The petition asked for instructions to form a high-level expert panel and conduct real-time bridge monitoring in accordance with the guidelines put forth by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The petition expressed worries regarding the longevity and safety of the state’s bridges. Why have 12 bridges collapsed in 17 days?