Patna: An under-construction road bridge of Bihar’s Purnea district collapsed four hours after concretisation early on Monday.
The local villagers alleged that the contractor and the engineers were using lower quality materials which led to the accident.
“After the installation of pillars, the concretisation of the bridge was started around 11 p.m. on Sunday. It took around three hours to complete the road concretization and it collapsed around 4 p.m. The engineering aspect during the installation of pillars was also not correct. Some of the pillars are not upright. This could also be the reason for the bridge collapse,” said Javej Alam, a local resident.
The road bridge is located on Salim Chowk at Fatki-Baria road in the Bayasi block of the district.
Contacted, Ram Babu Gupta, the executive engineer of the project, said: “We have no knowledge of concretisation being taking place on the road bridge. We have initiated an inquiry and reasons of the accident will be ascertained only after the investigation.”
“The construction of the bridge was underway under the PM Gram Sadak programme at this place. If the construction has taken place in absence of an executive engineer, then he is responsible for it and if he was present and still the bridge collapsed, he is responsible for it. We have complained to the District Magistrate of Purnea about this incident and requested action against errant contractor and engineer,” Haji Abdul Subhan, former MLA of RJD.
–IANS