Bihar govt suspends 15 engineers after 10 bridges collapse in quick succession
The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has also ordered the reconstruction of the new bridges. The cost of the construction will be imposed on the contractors found guilty. The 10th bridge that collapsed in the state was reported from Saran district on Thursday. It was also Saran district's third bridge to fall in a span of 24 hours.
FollowThe Bihar government has taken action after 10 bridges fell in less than two weeks, suspending 15 engineers for carelessness. 11 employees from the Water Resources Department and four employees from the Rural Works Department were suspended. Two engineers have also been questioned by the government for their explanations.
Nine bridges and culverts in different districts of Bihar have fallen in the last few days, according to the state administration. The decision was taken after the flying squads submitted their reports, pointing out that engineers were negligent and monitoring was ineffective as the main reasons behind the collapse of the bridges.
"Out of these, six were very old, while three were under construction. An investigation by the departmental flying squad revealed that the concerned engineers did not take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the bridges and culverts situated on this river, nor did they conduct proper technical supervision. Additionally, negligence was also observed at the level of the executing contractor," the government said.
Another bridge collapsed in Bihar's Saran district on Thursday, the 10th such incident in the state in just over a fortnight. According to District Magistrate Aman Samir, Saran has seen three bridge collapses in the previous twenty-four hours. "A high-level probe has been ordered to determine the causes of these small bridge collapses in the district," he stated.
The most recent occurrence happened a day after the state's chief minister, Nitish Kumar, ordered the departments in charge of rural works and road building to assess all of the state's ancient bridges and determine which ones needed to be repaired right away.
The CM presided over a meeting on July 3 to discuss the maintenance policies. He stated that the rural works department needed to quickly develop its plan, and that the road construction agency had already established its policy for maintaining bridges.
