Part of bridge collapses in Bihar’s Bhagalpur; no injuries reported

A part of a small bridge collapsed in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district on Friday due to excessive rise in water levels amid heavy rainfall in the state, officials said.

The incident took place on Friday morning in the Pirpainti-Babupur area on Bakharpur Road.

“When we were crossing the road, we saw one of the pillars go down after which we informed the local administration. Police then arrived at the scene and stopped the traffic,” locals said.

In a statement released by Bhagalpur district magistrate (DM) office, one of the pillars was subsided due to excessive rise in water level. No one was injured in the incident. Traffic movement, including that of pedestrians, has been stopped and barricades have been put on either side.

Also Read: Bihar: 3 more bridges collapse, 9th such incident in 15 days

The repair works of the bridge, constructed in 2004, will be conducted at a later date.

There has been a rise in similar incidents as several bridges had collapsed in Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj districts in the past few months.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav criticised the state government’s failure in preventing such mishaps.

“Another bridge collapsed in Bhagalpur. In chief minister Nitish Kumar’s regime, the roots of corruption are deep, but the foundation of bridges is weak. The state witnessed the collapse of several bridges, constructed at the cost of several crores in the last 2-3 months”, Yadav wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).