Synopsis
The Bihar government has suspended several engineers from the Water Resources Department in Siwan and from the Rural Works Department in the wake of incidents of bridge collapse. Over the past few days, the state has seen the collapse of at least 10 bridges, raising concerns about infrastructure safety and maintenance. A bridge collapsed in Bihar’s Saran district last week, marking the 10th such incident in the state in just over a fortnight.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was seen losing his temper during an on-stage interaction with an IAS officer, stating he would touch the officer’s feet and urging him to ensure the timely completion of the JP Ganga Path extension up to Kangan Ghat in Patna.
“I touch your feet, please finish the work on time,” Kumar said, urging the officer to speed up the work during the inauguration of the third phase of the JP Ganga Pathway.
This comes after a series of recent bridge collapses in the state, which has sparked a political battle between the ruling Janata Dal United and the opposition. In response, the Bihar government has suspended multiple engineers from the Water Resources Department in Siwan and the Rural Works Department. The state has witnessed the collapse of at least 10 bridges in the past few days, raising significant concerns about infrastructure safety and maintenance. Just last week, a bridge in Bihar’s Saran district collapsed, marking the 10th such incident in just over two weeks.
Five bridges in Araria, Siwan, East Champaran, Kishanganj, and Madhubdistricts collapsed across the state in June last month. On June 22, a bridge over the Gandak River in Siwan, approximately 40-45 years old, also fell.
According to a press release by the state government, in an investigation conducted by the departmental flying squad organization, it was revealed that during the implementation of the work, precautionary steps were not taken by the concerned engineers to keep the bridge on Gandak River safe and proper technical supervision was not done.
Taking seriously the issue of damage to these bridges, the responsible engineers of the Water Resources Department, Siwan, who are suspended, include Amit Anand, Executive Engineer, Flood Control Division; Kumar Brajesh, Executive Engineer, Water Discharge Division; Rajkumar, Assistant Engineer, Flood Control Division; Chandramohan Jha, Assistant Engineer, Flood Control Division; Simran Anand, Assistant Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Neha Rani, Assistant Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Mohd. Majid, Junior Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Ravi Kumar Rajneesh, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; Rafiul Hoda Ansari, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; Ratnesh Gautam, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; and Prabhat Ranjan, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division.
The press release further said that in place of the damaged bridges, new bridges will be constructed at the risk and cost of the executive contractor.
The release also said that on June 18 a culvert was damaged in Araria. Under the chairmanship of Nirmal Kumar, Chief Engineer, Rural Works Department, Purnia, a four-member investigation team was formed and the damaged bridge has been investigated.
As a result of dereliction of duty in the construction work of the damaged bridge, Anjani Kumar, then Executive Engineer of Rural Works Department; Ashutosh Kumar Ranjan, present Executive Engineer; Virendra Prasad, then Junior Engineer; Manish Kumar, present Junior Engineer, have been suspended with immediate effect till further orders, the release said.
Inputs from ANI
