another-bridge-collapses-in-bihar-10th-in-16-days

Another bridge collapse occurred in Bihar on Thursday, making it the 10th such incident reported from the state in just over a fortnight.

 

District Magistrate Aman Samir said the latest incident was reported from Saran, which witnessed two more bridge collapses in the last 24 hours.

 

He said no casualty was reported after the structure, built 15 years ago by local authorities, collapsed this morning.

 

The small bridge over the Gandaki river was in the Baneyapur block and connected several villages in Saran with the neighbouring Siwan district.

 

“The small bridge was constructed 15 years ago. I am going to the spot. Several other officials of the district administration have already reached there. The exact cause of the bridge collapse is yet to be ascertained, but desilting work has been recently undertaken," the district magistrate stated. 

 

On Wednesday, the Saran district witnessed the collapse of two small bridges—one in the Janta Bazar area and another in the Lahladpur area.

 

“A high-level probe has been ordered to find out the reason for the collapse of these small bridges in the district," the DM said.

 

According to locals, heavy rainfall for the last few days in the district might have contributed to the collapse of these small bridges.

 

In the past 15 days, 10 bridges have collapsed in the Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran, and Kishanganj districts.

 

After Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's directives, the state's road construction and rural works departments were asked to assess all old bridges and determine which ones needed urgent repairs.

 

The CM convened a meeting on Wednesday to assess the maintenance strategies. He mentioned that the road construction department has already formulated its policy for bridge maintenance and urged the rural works department to devise its plan as well promptly.