A bridge under construction across the Ganges River collapsed in the Indian state of Bihar on Sunday. Eyewitnesses filmed the collapse of the structure around 6am. Fortunately, according to initial reports, no one was injured.
According to local authorities, parts of the Aguwani Sultananj Bridge in the city of Bhagalpur have been deliberately demolished due to design flaws on the advice of experts. It is the second time that the bridge has collapsed, according to the Indian news agency ANI. In April last year, it was damaged by a storm and partially collapsed.
Debate on corruption and mismanagement
The incident has sparked debate about corruption and mismanagement in India. Amit Malviya, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party, called for the resignation of those responsible, including Bihar Provincial Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“In 2015, Nitish Kumar inaugurated this bridge, which is due to be completed by 2020,” Mr Malviya wrote on Twitter (see tweet below). “We expected the inauguration of the bridge to take place in November or December of this year. But the way it collapsed is a shame. The incident should be investigated,” Lalit Narayan Mandal, a member of parliament from Sultanganj, told ANI.
Parts of the bridge collapsed last year
“It should be remembered that on April 30 last year, part of this bridge collapsed”. They then turned to construction experts to conduct an investigation. The final report is still pending, “but experts identified the structure[van de brug, opmerking]have informed us that there were serious shortcomings,” Bihar’s deputy prime minister said at a news conference.
Source: Krone
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