"Already had apprehensions about bridge's structure": JDU MLA on Bhagalpur bridge collapse

JDU MLA Kumar said that he already had raised his concerns about the bridge with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.

While addressing the press conference, Sanjeev Kumar said," "It is a matter of great concern, but it is good that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken cognizance of this matter and has ordered a high-level inquiry. There was already an apprehension about the structure. I had raised the matter with Tejashwi Yadav and he gave his assurances to me regarding this. Also inside the assembly, I had raised this matter in March this year."

He further stated that the bridge collapse incident should be investigated by the judge of the High Court.

"Instead of getting the Principal Secretary of the Road Construction Department, a judge of the High Court should investigate this matter. The bridge was already broken, which was being investigated, but the investigation report has not yet come," he said.

"The same Principal Secretary has not taken this matter seriously, a technical team should investigate it, Principal Secretary should be kept separate from this investigation," he added.

Earlier on Sunday an under-construction Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge in Bhagalpur collapsed.

Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone of the bridge in 2014 connecting Sultanganj and Khagaria.

Meanwhile, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar ordered a probe into the incident and said that the construction was incorrect due to which the bridge collapsed repeatedly.

Reacting to the incident Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shahnawaz Hussain said that it was not the bridge, but the credibility of the state government which has been destroyed.

Shahnawaz Hussain said, "It was our demand from 2016 to probe the bridge which was being built in Bhagalpur, straddling Sultanganj and Khagaria on the Ganga river. But because of the inaction of the Bihar government, the whole structure has collapsed. (ANI)