Bihar Suspends 11 Engineers After 10 Bridges Collapse in Over Two Weeks

Patna: Bihar's water resources department has suspended 11 engineers following the collapse of 10 bridges over the past 15 days across the state. The Nitish Kumar-led government has also mandated the reconstruction of the new bridges, with the costs to be borne by contractors found guilty.

The decision was made following reports from flying squads, which highlighted negligence among engineers and ineffective monitoring as the main causes of the bridge collapses.

Additional Chief Secretary of Bihar's Water Resources Department, Chaitanya Prasad, said that the state government is serious about the issue. He accused the engineers of not taking proper care and added that the contractors responsible for building the bridges will be traced and held to account.

Prasad said, "It appears that engineers didn’t exercise proper care, and contractors were not diligent either.”

Over the past 15 days, the state has seen the collapse of 10 bridges, raising concerns about infrastructure safety and maintenance.   A bridge collapsed in Bihar's Saran district on Thursday, marking the 10th such incident in the state in just over a fortnight.

Five bridges in Araria, Siwan, East Champaran, Kishanganj, and Madhubani districts collapsed across the state in June last month. 

The first in the series was the bridge collapse in Araria on June 18. On June 22, a bridge over the Gandak River in Siwan, approximately 40-45 years old, also fell. On June 23, a bridge under construction in East Champaran, costing around Rs 1.5 crore, collapsed, with locals blaming the use of substandard materials. On June 18, a newly constructed bridge over the Bakra River in Pararia village of Bihar's Araria district collapsed.