Bihar: Under-construction bridge caves in; second incident in three months

Purnia district magistrate (DM) Kundan Kumar has ordered a probe to identify the erring officials behind the collapse of the under-construction bridge

An under-construction bridge on Fatki-Bariya Road of Bihar’s Purnia district caved in on Monday morning, officials said.

The contractor and staff workers escaped soon after the incident. (HT photo)

The contractor and staff workers escaped soon after the incident.

The bridge is being built by the rural work department (RWD) at a cost of ₹1.13 crore.

This is the second such incident in three months in the same block of the district.

Purnia district magistrate (DM) Kundan Kumar has ordered a probe to identify the erring officials behind the collapse of the under-construction bridge.

Executive engineer Rakesh Kumar is awaiting the probe outcome to comment on how the bridge collapsed.

“Probe is underway and only after the probe can we tell after all how the bridge collapsed”, he said.

Reacting to the collapse, former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) minister Hazi Abdus Subhan demanded a high-level probe.

“This is the second such incident within three months which shows gross negligence on the part of the engineer,” he said adding that he spoke to Purnia DM in this regard.

“We demand stringent punishment to those who have been so negligent which would have cost several lives if it had collapsed after construction.”