Patna: An under-construction four-lane bridge over the Ganga came crashing down in Bihar’s Bhagalpur, for the second time in the year. Although no loss of life has been reported so far, BJP president Samrat Choudhary alleged that ‘corruption is rampant’ in the Nitish-Kumar led Bihar government.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the incident and said strict action should be taken against the erring officials.
The bridge was inaugurated in 2014 by chief minister Nitish Kumar connected Sultanganj and Khagaria districts and was supposed to be ready in 2019. The work on the bridge was slated to be completed by March 2019 but by that time even 25% of the work could not be completed properly and the state government had to extend the deadline to March 2020. On April 30, 2022, the superstructure between pillar number 4 and 6 of the bridge fell due to strong wind and rain.
In December last year, a bridge had snapped into the Burhi Gandak river in the Begusarai district. No one was injured in the incident as the bridge was yet to be formally opened to the public due to lack of an access road.