Days after an under-construction bridge over the Ganga river collapsed in Bihar’s Bhagalpur, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader and state Minister Tej Pratap Yadav alleged the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) demolished it.
“The bridge has been demolished by BJP. We are building the bridge and they are demolishing it,” said Yadav on the collapse of the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge.
The Rs 1,710 crore four-lane road bridge project connected Sultanganj in the Bhagalpur district and Aguwani Ghat in the Khagaria district. No casualties have been confirmed in the incident so far.
A Haryana-based company has got the contract for the construction of the bridge–which capsized for the second time–against which the BJP is now seeking action.
Meanwhile, the collapse of the bridge has also prompted public outrage, prompting Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government to serve notice to construction company S.P. Singla Construction Pvt Ltd, while an Executive Engineer of the Road Construction Department has also been suspended.
The Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd has served notice to the MD of S.P. Singla Construction, asking why the Bihar government should not blacklist this company. If the company did not respond to the notice in 15 days, it could be blacklisted by the government, sources said.
Sources have said that the company has used low-grade materials during the construction and the pilings are also under a question mark.
The Executive Engineer is facing the charge of failing to keep an eye on construction proceedings and irregularities the construction company had opted for during the construction of the bridge.
According to a district administration official, irregularities and designer faults, on a massive scale, appeared during the design and construction of the bridge.
A team of experts from IIT Roorkee will also visit the site today and will submit their investigation report to the government. Officers from different departments are sent to the collapse site.
Govt Sets Accountability
Earlier in the day, JD-U MLA from Parbatta in Khagaria, Sanjiv Kumar alleged that Additional Chief Secretary Pratyay Amrit is directly involved in the corruption.
In his reaction, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose ire against the company was palpable, said, “It was a painful experience for me when I learnt about the bridge collapse on Sunday. I immediately asked the officials to go to the spot and take action against the accused persons.”
He claimed the bridge was not constructed in the right manner which is the reason why it collapsed twice. The Deputy CM and officials of BRPNNL will look after it. I want to complete this bridge as soon as possible.”
“I thought about the bridge in 2012 and the construction started in 2015,” he added.
Company In Controversies Before
According to a report by India Today, SP Singla Constructions, headed by Sat Paul Singla, came under the scanner for the first time in May 2020, after three children died when a concrete slab fell on them during the construction of Lohiya Chakra Path, Nitish govt’s ambitious.
At the time, an inquiry was ordered into the incident, but later no action was taken against the construction company.
SP Singla Constructions reportedly bagged several government projects in Bihar, including a six-lane bridge across the river Ganga in Patna from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Lohia Path Chakra on Jawaharlal Nehru Road and the Sherpur-Dighwara bridge among others.
(With IANS Inputs)
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