Bihar govt suspends 11 engineers after 10 bridges collapse in 15 days

NEW DELHI: The Bihar government on Friday announced the suspension of 11 engineers, in wake of the recent bridge collapses in the state. The inquiry revealed that essential precautionary steps were disregarded by the responsible engineers overseeing the construction of a bridge and culvert spanning a river, the order by the state government said.
"It has been found that during the execution of work, precautionary measures were not taken to ensure the safety of the bridges located on this river by the relevant engineers.Additionally, proper technical supervision was not conducted. Furthermore, there was negligence at the executive monitoring level," the order said.
"It was found that engineers were negligent and monitoring was ineffective… that is the main reason behind the collapse of small bridges and causeways in the state," Chaitanya Prasad, additional chief secretary of WRD, told reporters.
Over the past 16 days, a total of ten bridges have collpased in Bihar, including Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran, and Kishanganj.
In June, a series of bridge collapses occurred in five districts across Bihar. The affected districts were Araria, Siwan, East Champaran, Kishanganj, and Madhubani.
The first incident took place on June 18, when "a newly constructed bridge over the Bakra River in Pararia village of Bihar's Araria district collapsed."
Just a few days later, on June 22, an older bridge spanning the Gandak River in Siwan, estimated to be between 40 and 45 years old, also gave way. The following day, on June 23, a bridge still under construction in East Champaran, with a projected cost of approximately Rs 1.5 crore, collapsed as well. Local residents attributed the East Champaran bridge failure to the use of inferior quality materials in its construction.

Political slugfest over collapsing bridges
The collapsing bridges in the state led to an intense slugfight between the Nitish Kumar government and the opposition. Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi defended Nitish , blaming unusually heavy monsoon rains for the incidents. Manjhi stated that Kumar had ordered action against negligence. Over the past 15 days, ten bridges have collapsed, raising serious concerns about infrastructure safety.
Meanwhile, former deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a scathing attack on Kumar and the JD(U), accusing them of widespread corruption and crime. Yadav highlighted the bridge collapses as proof of administrative failure, criticizing the "double engine" government for being involved in both corruption and crime.
"Since the day Nitish Kumar became the CM, if we leave aside only 18 months of my tenure, then the entire time the Rural Works Department has been with the JD(U). This ministry and Bihar are constantly witnessing corruption," Yadav said