Bihar Cabinet Minister Tej Pratap Yadav (File Image/@ANI)
Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government on Monday gave a notice to the construction company SP Singla Construction Private Limited, while an executive engineer of the Road Construction Department has also been suspended.
Days after an under-construction bridge over the Ganga river in Bihar’s Bhagalpur collapsed, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and state minister Tej Pratap Yadav alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demolished it.
“The bridge has been demolished by the BJP. On the collapse of the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge, Yadav said, “We are building the bridge and they are demolishing it.”
The Rs 1,710-crore four-lane road bridge project will connect Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district and Aguwani Ghat in Khagaria district. A company from Haryana has got the contract for the construction of the bridge, against which the BJP is now demanding action.
Meanwhile, Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government on Monday served a notice to construction company SP Singla Construction Pvt Ltd, while an executive engineer of the road construction department has also been suspended.
Sources have told that the company has used substandard material during construction and pilings are also under question.
According to a district administration official, large scale irregularities and designer defects came to the fore during the design and construction of the bridge.
A team of experts from IIT Roorkee will also visit the spot today and submit its investigation report to the government. Officers of various departments are being sent to the accident site.
Earlier in the day, JDU MLA Sanjeev Kumar from Parbatta in Khagaria alleged that Additional Chief Secretary Pratyay Amrit was directly involved in corruption.
In his response, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose anger against the company was palpable, said, “When I came to know about the bridge collapse on Sunday, it was a painful experience for me. I immediately asked the officials to go to the spot and take action against the accused persons.”
He claimed that the bridge was not constructed properly, which is why it collapsed twice. It will be supervised by the Deputy CM and BRPNNL officials. I want to complete this bridge as soon as possible.”
“I thought of the bridge in 2012 and the construction started in 2015,” he said.
,With IANS inputs,