Five injured as portion of bridge collapses in Odisha

At least five workers were injured when a portion of an under-construction bridge over a river collapsed in Odisha's Bargarh district today, a fortnight after a similar incident in Bhubaneswar left one person dead.
The accident took place when a slab of the bridge, being constructed over river Jeera in Bheden Block collapsed, police said.
The bridge is being constructed to connect villages Jamdol and Dhubenpali in the district.
Eleven persons were working when the slab of the bridge collapsed, leaving five persons injured. The injured were rushed to the Bargarh District Headquarter Hospital, police said.
The injured persons have been identified as Surendra Naik, Rajat Naik, Aswini Ghadei, Pramod Sahu and Narada Naik.

Bargarh District Collector, Khagendra Kumar Padhee rushed to the district headquarter hospital to take stock of the situation and enquire about the injured workers.

The estimated budget of the bridge being constructed under Biju Setu Yojana of the Rural Development department of the state government was around Rs 8.5 crore. A Padmapur-based contractor was executing the construction work, official sources said.
Superintendent Engineer, Rural Work Circle, Ranjan Kumar Kar, said an inquiry will be conducted to ascertain the circumstances that led to the collapse and action will be taken if any lapse in construction is found.
Eight slabs of the bridge had already been laid and the last one was being cast when the mishap took place, he said.

The incident happened exactly a fortnight after a man was killed and 11 others were injured when a portion of an under-construction flyover collapsed near Bomikhal in Bhubaneswar on September 10.