Under-construction bridge collapses in Bengal

An under-construction bridge collapsed in Kakdwip area of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Monday, a senior official said.

There has been no report of any casualty, District Magistrate Y Ratnakara Rao said.

"A team has been rushed to the spot to look into the incident. The work to clear the debris has started," he said.

The area has been cordoned off to stop people from going near the bridge, Rao said, adding that engineers were trying to ascertain the reason behind the collapse.

This is the third incident of bridge collapse in the state in September.

A portion of a bridge at Majerhat in south Kolkata had collapsed on September 4, killing three persons and injuring more than 24.

On September 7, an old bridge had collapsed near Siliguri in north Bengal, leaving a truck driver injured.

State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, during a press meet at the state secretariat, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will review the condition of bridges and flyovers in the state, including the ones under construction.

"Once she is back from her tour, she will seek opinion of experts on ways to overcome weakness in the structural pattern of the bridges and evaluate the experience of contractors entrusted with the job of building them," he said.

Banerjee is on a 12-day trip to Germany and Italy to attract investments to the state.

Asked about the Kakdwip bridge collapse, Chatterjee told reporters that it was "not a functioning one", without getting into details.

He, however, asserted that the government was taking the issue seriously and the CM had been regularly seeking updates about every development in the state from Italy.