Bihar: Newly constructed bridge collapses during thunderstorm in Sultanganj

A newly constructed river overbridge on Ganga at Sultanganj collapsed on Saturday morning, fortunately, however, no casualties were reported.

Managing Director of the Bihar state bridge construction corporation Pankaj Kumar Pal visited the crash site in Sultanganj and said that due to the thunderstorm, part of the bridge constructed at a cost of Rs 1,710 crores collapsed at 4 am today. According to Pal, the bridge had been constructed by a private company from Hyderabad.

Pal said an inquiry committee headed by a professor from NIT Patna had been constituted. Following the instructions, NIT experts reached the site in the evening.

Lalit Narayan Mandal, JDU MLA from Sultanganj, alleged that the bridge collapsed due to poor construction and the substandard materials that were used to build it.

He regretted, "four years back, a bridge on the Kosi river constructed by the same company had collapsed, and still, it was given contracts for the Sultanganj bridge."

Officials of the IMD claimed the thunderstorm lashed with rains was not strong enough to lead to the collapse of the bridge.

In September last year, a bridge constructed on the Gandak river collapsed within 29 days of its inauguration by the chief minister. The 12 km-long bridge linked Saran with the Gopalganj district.

Notably, a newly constructed bridge on the Kankai river had also collapsed at Godavari village last year.