Third Bridge Collapses in 24 Hrs in Bihar’s Saran, 12th incident in 17 days

Patna: Another bridge collapsed in Bihar’s Saran district on Thursday. It was the third bridge to collapse in the district in 24 hours. With this, at least 12 bridges have collapsed in Bihar in the past 17 days.

No casualties were reported in the incident of the latest bridge collapse. The bridge that caved in was a 15-year-old bridge over the Gandaki River, which connected villages in Saran to neighbouring Siwan district.

During past 17 days, a 40-year-old bridge over the Gandak River Deoria collapsed. Another bridge, a 5-year-old structure, came down in the Tewta area. The third bridge in the Siwan district collapsed in Dhamhi.

Two bridges collapsed in Chhapra district, one in the Janata Bazar area over the Gandak River and the other was located a kilometer away from the first site.

In Araria, a bridge over the Bakra River came down on June 18.

An under-construction bridge collapsed on June 23 in East Champaran. A bridge over a tributary connecting the Kankai and Mahananda rivers in Kishanganj and another bridge in Madhubani collapsed on June 27.

Another bridge in Kishanganj collapsed on June 30.

On July 2, a small bridge over the Gandaki River in Deoria of Siwan and another small bridge reportedly met the same fate in Teghra block of the district.

Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to set up a high-level expert panel and implement real-time monitoring of the bridges in the state.