A 15-year-old bridge over the Gandaki River collapsed in Bihar’s Saran district on 4 July, reported India Today. This is the third bridge collapse in Saran within 24 hours, according to District Magistrate Aman Samir.
According to details, in the past 17 days, At least 12 bridges have collapsed across Bihar. Though no casualties have been reported as of yet. The bridge used to connect villages in Saran to neighbouring Siwan district.
The new bridge collapse took place a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered a survey of all old existing bridges in the state to identify those needing urgent repairs.
Earlier in the day, a bridge collapsed in Bihar, that marked 10th such incident in the state in just over a fortnight.
“The latest incident was reported from Saran, which witnessed two more bridge collapses in the last 24 hours,” District Magistrate Aman Samir told newswire PTI.
To undertake a structural audit and set up an expert committee to identify bridges that can be strengthened or demolished based on the findings, a a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Bihar government.
It was filed by advocate and petitioner Brajesh Singh who raised his concerns regarding he safety and longevity of the bridges in the state.
“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 was recently undertaken,” the district magistrate told PTI.
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.