Bihar Bridge Collapse: PIL Moved In Patna High Court Seeking Independent Probe

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea has been filed in the Patna High Court seeking an independent inquiry into the collapse of the under-construction four-lane Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge built over the Ganga river in Bihar's Bhagalpur on Sunday.

The PIL Plea, filed by Advocate Manibhushan Pratap Sengar, also seeks action against the constriction company involved in the construction of the bridge - SP Singla Company. The plea also demand a direction to the Respondents to reconstruct the collapsed bridge immediately.

Further, the PIL plea also seeks an appropriate direction to the respondents to punish the guilty persons who are responsible for negligent and unaccountable work which led to causing of huge loss of public money as well as inconvenience to the public. 

In the plea, it has been stated that the collapse of the bridge, which was being built with a cost of Rs. 1,710 crores, shows that the construction company had been negligent in its duty. The petitioner also accuses the state government and its authorities of giving the company further time to complete the work despite the fact that the company had delayed the work.

"Respondents have misused huge public money with the collusion of power causing loss to the public exchequer and that they did not construct the bridge properly rather they mismanaged the entire construction of the bridge with the intent to defalcate public money," the PIL plea further states.

On the other hand, as per media reports, the state government officials have claimed that the portions of the under-construction bridge were deliberately destroyed in a planned fashion under expert advice as it had design flaws.

In an official statement, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav stated thus:

"A portion of this bridge collapsed on April 30 last year. We had, thereafter, approached IIT-Roorkee, which is esteemed for its expertise in construction matters, to conduct a study. It is yet to come up with a final report but experts who had studied the structure had informed us that there were serious defects."