Portion of Bihar’s Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge collapses yet again

The bridge was being built at the cost of Rs.1710 crore by SP Singla Construction Pvt. Limited for Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited

Patna: A portion of an under construction four-lane bridge on the river Ganga between Aguwani Ghat and Sultanganj collapsed yet again on Saturday morning.

(Twitter Photo)

Officials of the road construction department (RCD) said that this is the third time when different portions of the bridge have collapsed while under construction.

According to the officials, the structure between piers nine and ten, spanning from Sultanganj to Agwani Ghat in Bhagalpur, came crashing into the stream of the swollen Ganga.

The bridge was being built at the cost of Rs.1710 crore by SP Singla Construction Pvt. Limited for Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited.

On June 5 last year, slabs of the bridge on pillars nine to eleven of the 3.11-km-long four-lane bridge had sank in the midst of streams of the river. Another portion of the same bridge had caved in in April 2022.

The bridge, sixth on the Ganga to connect northern Bihar with its south, was aimed at reducing travel time to Sultanagnj, Khagaria, Saharsa, Madhepura, and Supaul. It would also connect NH 31 and NH 80 across the Ganga river.

The RCD had allowed the construction firm to rebuild the bridge, despite the glaring design fault and quality compromise in construction material noted by the IIT-Roorkee experts.

The department had initially proposed taking stern action against the construction company, including black listing, but later the firm was roped in again to rebuild the bridge.

The department had also ignored the pleas raised by the individuals filed in the Patna high court as the public interest litigations (PILs). The PILs had alleged that the construction firm was using substandard construction materials to build the bridge, and the department officials were keeping silent over the irregularities.

Deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, who holds the RCD portfolio, and additional chief secretary (RCD) Pratyay Amrit could not be reached out for their comments despite several attempts.