Three small bridges collapsed in Siwan district while another one crumbled in Saran district on Wednesday, taking the tally of similar incidents in Bihar to nine since June 18.
The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government while ordering a probe into the incident has sought a detailed report from both the district administrations. No casualties have been reported in the four incidents.
Since June 18, bridges have collapsed in Kishanganj, Araria, Madhubani, East Champaran and Siwan.
On Wednesday, three bridges collapsed in Siwan alone. A small bridge constructed in 1998 over a Gandak river stream at Maharajganj’s Deoria Panchayat with the MPLAD fund of ` 6 lakh. Another bridge constructed with `10 lakh MPLAD fund in 2004 collapsed at Nautan Sikandarpur over Dhamahi river.
The third Siwan bridge collapsed in Teghra area.In the fourth incident a portion of a 150-year-old bridge in Saran’s Damdaspurpur collapsed.
Meanwhile, the water resources department has directed the chief engineers to monitor water level of North Bihar rivers, which have been getting additional discharge of water because of incessant rains in Nepal. Slamming the JD(U)-BJP government in the state and the NDA coalition at the Centre, RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in a post on X said: “See, how 4 bridges collapsed in Bihar in a single day?The NDA government should tell who is guilty?”
A JD (U) leader, however, said: “The state has ordered inquiries to find the truth. There could be multiple reasons for the bridge collapses, including rains and excess flow of water from Nepal rivers”.
