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Many questions were raised against the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar when a portion of the bridge over the Gadhak river in Gopalganj district collapsed on Wednesday. That too within 29 days of its inauguration.
Known as Sattarghat Bridge, it was opened to commuters on June 16, connecting Gopalganj with East Champaran and other districts of north Bihar, and came as a fulfillment of the decades-old demand of the people of that area.
According to the reports, the reason behind the collapse was the pressure of the floodwater of the Gandhak river. The channels connecting the road and the bridge had already been eroding after rains in the area over the past couple of days.
On 16th June, over video conference, Nitish Kumar inaugurated this 12km-long stretch that includes four bridges — a 1.44km long main bridge and three shorter ones — along with approach road. These bridges are located between Gopalganj and East Champaran districts in a north-south alignment. Around a 20-meter-long stretch of the approach road towards the southernmost smaller bridge on the Gopalganj side collapsed due to the pressure of floodwaters of Gandak river.
The collapse didn’t cause any harm to the people at the scene but gave rise to disruption in traffic.
Various opposition leaders have asked questions over this event as this project took a cost of Rs 263.47 crore in 8 years. Theories of corruption by Kumar’s government have also been singled out.
Written by Iqra Razi, She is Journalism graduate from Indian Institute of Mass Communication New Delhi.
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