Guard Missing After Bridge Collapses In Bihar

Amid officials claiming that portions of under construction bridge had been deliberately destroyed in a planned fashion, the man who worked as a guard has gone missing.

"After the bridge collapse, a person working as a guard with SP Singla Company is said to be missing. His body has not been recovered yet. Search by SDRF and NDRF teams is underway to trace him," ANI quoted Chandan Kumar, Circle Officer, Parbatta in Bihar, as saying.

The under-construction Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge in Bhagalpur collapsed on Sunday and this was caught on camera. However, the officials claimed that portions of which were deliberately destroyed in a planned fashion under expert advice as it had design flaws.

This is the second time the bridge has collapsed. Last year, a section of an under-construction road bridge over the Ganga at Sultanganj in Bihar collapsed during a thunderstorm.

"The bridge that collapsed yesterday had collapsed last year also. I have instructed officials to take strict action. It is not being constructed correctly that's why it is collapsing again and again. The department will look into it and action will be taken," Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said on bridge collapse. He had also ordered a probe into the incident and asked to identify those responsible for it on Sunday.

Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Additional Chief Secretary of Road Construction Department, Pratyay Amrit, held a hurried press conference on Sunday.

"It may be recalled that a portion of this bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year. We had, thereafter, approached IIT-Roorkee, which is esteemed for its expertise in construction matters, to conduct a study. It is yet to come up with a final report but experts who had studied the structure had informed us that there were serious defects," Yadav said at the press meet.

Amrit, who took over, added, "It was decided that we must not take any chance and wait for a final report. So we went ahead with pulling down parts of the bridge. Today's incident was a part of such a preventive exercise". Once the final report comes, which is expected shortly, the state government would contemplate action like lodging of FIR and blacklisting of the company which was awarded the contract, he said.

On the other hand, the BJP has sought Nitish Kumar's resignation over the incident.

"Initially we thought it was a blast...later we understood that the bridge had collapsed...this shows the corruption in the govt...this is not the first time...this state govt is corrupted, there should be a probe," Rakesh Kumar, an eye witness to the incident, slammed the government.