Part of under-construction bridge on Ganga in Bihar caves in, probe ordered

The four-lane bridge, located about 35 km west from Bhagalpur, is being built by SP Singla Constructions Limited for the Bihar Pul Nirman Nigam Limited (BRPNNL) at a cost of ₹1710.77 crore.

A portion of the superstructure of under-construction mega bridge on the river Ganga in Bihar, linking Khagaria with Bhagalpur, caved in near Sultanganj Friday night allegedly under the impact of storm and rains that lashed the area, officials said.

The collapsed portion of the bridge near Sultanganj. (Santosh Kumar)

The four-lane bridge, located about 35 km west from Bhagalpur, is being built by SP Singla Constructions Limited for the Bihar Pul Nirman Nigam Limited (BRPNNL) at a cost of ₹1710.77 crore.

Reports said that 18 box girders on each side of the pillar number five from Sultanganj side, which were connected with steel ropes, slid down. As the incident took place in night, work was not in progress and hence no casualty has been reported so far.

BRPNNL managing director Sanjay Kumar said a team of experts would inspect the site for taking necessary action.

Engineers of Bihar government’s road construction department (RCD) said it was not a minor accident. “Caving in of the slabs of an under-construction bridge is a major technical lapse. The casualty of life and damage to property would have been great had the accident taken place in areas of human activities,” said a superintending engineer.

Sultanganj MLA Lalit Narayan Mandal said chief minister Nitish Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the incident. “The possibility of use of substandard materials in construction of the bridge cannot be ruled out. It’s a matter of worry if the bridge could not sustain gusty winds,” he said.

The construction of the 30-span bridge between Sultanganj (in Bhagalpur) and Aguani Ghat (in Khagaria) started in 2014 and was due to complete in 2019. However, the work could not complete owing to procedural delays in land acquisition and prevalence of Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.

The 3.11-km-long bridge is being made with extradosed spans and a high level observatory to offer the passers-by a panoramic view of the river. An extradosed bridge is a hybrid structure between the classic cable-stayed and cantilever-girder types.