For the third time, a section of the under-construction four-lane bridge on the Sultanganj-Aguwani Ganga river route in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district collapsed into the Ganga river on Saturday. The section between pillars 9 and 10, connecting Sultanganj to Agwani Ghat in Bhagalpur, was submerged, raising serious concerns about the structural integrity of the entire project.
Ongoing Issues and Project Overview
Khagaria’s District Magistrate, Amit Kumar Pandey, told news agency PTI, “The entire structure of the under-construction bridge, which is faulty, is to be dismantled by the contractor as per the Patna High Court’s direction. Construction work has already stopped, and the dismantling process is underway.” Fortunately, no casualties were reported in the incident.
SP Singla Construction Company was tasked with building the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge over the Ganga river, with Rs 1,717 crore already invested. However, the bridge has now collapsed three times, raising concerns about the project’s construction and safety protocols. The bridge, named Mahasetu, is a major infrastructure project intended to connect the Khagaria and Bhagalpur districts.
Construction Delays and Challenges
The construction work was temporarily halted due to the ongoing flood situation in the Ganga, which added to the challenges of building over the river. The project, which began in 2014, has missed its completion deadline eight times. Additionally, the bridge suffered damage in April 2022 due to a storm.
Previous Bridge Collapses in Bihar
The repeated failures of this bridge section have sparked calls for an investigation to identify the causes of the collapses and ensure the safety of future construction efforts. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident in Bihar. In December 2022, a portion of a bridge built over the Burhi Gandak river in Begusarai collapsed after developing cracks. A month earlier, in November, an under-construction bridge in CM Nitish Kumar’s Nalanda district collapsed, resulting in one worker’s death and another’s injury. Similar incidents have also occurred in Kishanganj and Saharsa districts before the bridges could be inaugurated.
