Another bridge washed away in Bihar, 3rd such collapse in less than a month

The Pipa bridge situated in Raghupur of the Vaishali district of Bihar was washed away in the Ganga river on Tuesday afternoon. The bridge was under construction, a portion of which was taken away by waves of the river Ganga due to strong winds on Wednesday, an ANI report said.

This is the third such incident in the state within a month. Earlier, a portion of another under-construction bridge had collapsed near Ghori in Bihar's Kishanganj district. Subsequently, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on Sunday suspended four officials who were part of the project.

The under-construction bridge over the Mechi River would link Kishanganj and Katihar upon completion.

The NHAI has suspended four officials who were associated with the construction of the bridge. The project is worth Rs 1,500 crore, NHAI Regional Manager Awadesh Kumar said.

However, Kumar did not reveal the names of the officials suspended by the NHAI.

A pillar of the bridge near Ghori on NH-327E collapsed on Saturday. The superstructure was erected in May and the bridge was not yet in operation.

An expert committee has been formed, which is scheduled to visit the site for a detailed investigation, another NHAI official was quoted in a PTI report.

The state government has clarified that the structure was part of a central government project.

Another under-construction bridge, which was supposed to connect Khagaria district with Bhagalpur, collapsed on June 4.

(With agency inputs)