Part of suspension bridge collapses in India during construction

In Bihar, India, a four-lane suspension bridge over the Ganges River collapsed for the second time on Sunday. It has been under construction since 2015. There is information about a missing person. The construction of the bridge started on March 9, 2015 and was attended by the Regional Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, to inaugurate the project. Many workers were still on the bridge – a four-lane structure that should connect Sultanganj to Khagaria, in Bhagalpur district – when part of the work collapsed into the river. The district administration of Bhagalpur and the government of Bihar reported that there is a missing person, a guard who worked near the bridge and who is now being searched by rescue teams: “After the collapse of the bridge, a person who worked as a guard for the SP Singla Company is missing.” Several videos of the collapse of the bridge went viral on social media. District administration officials rushed to the scene after receiving the news. Kumar announced that the collapse will be investigated. This is not the first time the bridge has collapsed. It had already collapsed in 2022. The Bihar government said the structure had “serious defects” and some parts were being deliberately destroyed in a planned manner. “A part of the bridge collapsed on April 30 last year. After that, we asked the IIT-Roorkee Institute, considered for its experience in construction, to do a study. The final report has not yet been released, but experts who analyzed the structure reported that there were serious defects,” Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was quoted as saying on NDTV. Officials explained that the building had collapsed due to strong winds. The government of Bihar announced that it would take action against the construction company SK Singla, but after the investigation the company was given a “clean slate” and construction proceeded. A worker was killed when the bridge collapsed last year, according to officials. The project started in 2014 and the first stone was laid a year later. The incident quickly sparked a wave of criticism and sparked a debate about corruption and mismanagement in India. Amit Malviya, a senior official in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (PBJ), has already called for the resignation of officials in Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who belongs to an opposition party, the Janata Dal Union. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited.

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