Day after his deputy called bridge collapse planned, Nitish blames ‘poor work quality’

“I had asked authorities concerned to look into the matter seriously after the fall of the superstructure last year. The work should be completed fast. The bridge is falling because it is not being constructed properly,” he said.

#WATCH | Under construction Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge in Bihar’s Bhagalpur collapses. The moment when bridge collapsed was caught on video by locals. This is the second time the bridge has collapsed. Further details awaited.

(Source: Video shot by locals) pic.twitter.com/a44D2RVQQO

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2023

Asked whether action would be initiated against those responsible, he said, “Definitely. I have already said as much.”

The bridge is being constructed by SP Singla Constructions Private Limited at a cost of Rs 1,710 crore.

An IIT-Roorkee team had pointed out faults with the bridge’s design in a report submitted to the state’s Road Construction Department in December. “It may be recalled that a portion of this bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year. We had, thereafter, approached IIT-Roorkee, which is esteemed for its expertise in construction matters, to conduct a study. It is yet to come up with a final report but experts who had studied the structure had informed us that there were serious defects,” Tejaswi had said at Sunday’s press conference.

Around 400 metres of segments or final casting of the bridge between pillar numbers 10 and 13 collapsed on Sunday, leading to an estimated loss of Rs 150 crore. It was the second such incident in just over a year, with around 200 metres of the bridge’s superstructure having collapsed in April 2022 following strong winds.

As images of Sunday’s bridge collapse were shared on social media, Tejaswi and Amrit had called a press conference to assert that parts of the bridge had been pulled down as “part of a preventive exercise”.

However, a senior government official in Bhagalpur administration said: “In case of a planned pulling down, there has to be prior information given to local administration, including local police. This was not done, nor was the river barricaded. In fact, a boat had passed under the bridge just 10 minutes before the collapse.”

Officials also said that such an exercise would require the construction company to seek a no objection certificate (NOC) from the authorities of a dolphin sanctuary that is part of the section of the river on which the bridge stands.

“The dolphin sanctuary authorities had stopped the construction company from carrying out work over pillar number 5 for two months this year until March because it wanted the company to abide by extra safety guidelines so that dolphins were not threatened or disturbed by the construction,” a forest department official said.

A source close to the construction company told The Indian Express: “As it was Sunday, no construction was underway. Only a guard was at the site. Around 11 am, he noticed that some parts of the casting between pillars number 10 and 13 were coming off. He informed senior officials of the company, but there was little they could have done as segments over pillars number 10, 11 and 12 had started falling off. By 6 pm, all three pillars caved in along with the segments of casting placed over it,” the source said.

The Aguani-Sultanganj bridge project manager Rakesh Ranjan and projector director Alok Kumar Jha were not available for comment. The Indian Express also sent the company an email about potential red flags having been ignored, but did not receive a response.

Since July last year, teams from IIT Mumbai, IIT Roorkee and NIT Patna have conducted separate studies on the bridge. “All three teams submitted their reports to the Road Construction Department (RCD) last December. Though there were almost similar findings from the three teams, we found the IIT Roorkee report more specific as it found fault with the bridge’s design. The IIT Roorkee team had also suggested a relook into the entire design before going ahead with further construction work,” an RCD official said.

This is not the first time that SP Singla Constructions Private Limited has come under scanner. Parts of the Baluaha Ghat Kosi bridge in Saharsa, also constructed by the company, had fallen off ahead of its inauguration in 2013. The company has also been criticised for taking 19 years to complete the Munger-Khagaria railway-cum-road bridge. It was recently awarded the contract to construct a parallel bridge over the Ganga to Vikramshila Setu in Bhagalpur.

This Aguani-Sultanganj bridge is considered an important project as it seeks to connect the Kosi region, comprising the districts of Khagaria, Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul, with the southern Bihar districts of Bhagalpur, Munger and Jamui as well as adjoining Jharkhand districts of Deoghar and Godda.