An under-construction bridge over the Bhutahi river collapsed in Madhepur of Madhubani district making it the fifth such incident in Bihar in the just 11 days.
The bridge under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Nirman Yojna and has been underconstruction since 2021 supervised by the Rural Works Department of the Bihar government with an investment of Rs 3 crore so far.
As the water level of the Bhutahi river increased following monsoon rains, the girder collapsed on Friday and crashed into the river.
The 75-metre-long bridge would have connected Madhubani with Supaul district.
Engineers associated with construction said that increased pressure due to a rise in water level led to collapse of the girder.
Contractor Amarnath Jha said that the collapsed portion of the bridge would be rebuilt after the water level
decreases.
State Opposition leader, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, slammed the Nitish Kumar government for the collapse of bridges, one after the other, in less than a fortnight.
“Corruption is rampant in the Nitish-led NDA government, which resulted in the use of poor-quality materials in all construction works in the state,” he alleged.
On June 18, a 183-metre-long bridge built at a cost of Rs 12 crore collapsed in the Araria district.
On June 22, a small bridge on the canal of the Gandak River collapsed in Siwan district.
On June 23, another under-construction bridge collapsed in the East Champaran district.
On June 26, a bridge collapsed in Kishanganj district. Five so far in less than two weeks.
