Bihar Govt to probe Bhagalpur bridge collapse

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said his govt will probe criminal angle of the incident and take appropriate legal action.

Holding the negligence of the Railways responsible for collapse of an abandoned road overbridge on a running train at Bhagalpur on Saturday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his government will probe criminal angle of the incident and take appropriate legal action.

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He, however, did not elaborate on what legal action the government proposed to take.

The rules pertaining to dismantling of overbridges under which train traffic had still not been stopped had not been followed in the present case resulting in an "avoidable tragedy," he said.

Kumar, the Railway Minister before Lalu Prasad, launched a broadside against his arch political rival saying, "the Railways are sans an effective leadership. Instead of beating its own drum over huge profits, the Railways should concentrate on improving performance. They should do some introspection".

He criticised Prasad for allowing increase of axle load of trains for increased profit leading to damage to the tracks despite being advised against it by the Railway Safety Commission.

Asked whether any deaths had been reported in the incident, Kumar avoided a direct reply saying, "The fact that such an avoidable incident has happened is more important than cold statistics".