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The Bihar government has suspended 11 engineers from the Water Resources Department in Siwan and four engineers from the Rural Works Department in the wake of the bridge collapse.
Over the past 15 days, the state has seen the collapse of 10 bridges, raising concerns about infrastructure safety and maintenance. A bridge collapsed in Bihar's Saran district on Thursday, marking the 10th such incident in the state in just over a fortnight. Five bridges in Araria, Siwan, East Champaran, Kishanganj, and Madhubani districts collapsed across the state in June last month. On June 22, a bridge over the Gandak River in Siwan, approximately 40-45 years old, also fell. According to a press release by the state government, in an investigation conducted by the departmental flying squad organization, it was revealed that during the implementation of the work, precautionary steps were not taken by the concerned engineers to keep the bridge on Gandak River safe and proper technical supervision was not done. Taking seriously the issue of damage to these bridges, the responsible engineers of the Water Resources Department, Siwan, who are suspended, include Amit Anand, Executive Engineer, Flood Control Division; Kumar Brajesh, Executive Engineer, Water Discharge Division; Rajkumar, Assistant Engineer, Flood Control Division; Chandramohan Jha, Assistant Engineer, Flood Control Division; Simran Anand, Assistant Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Neha Rani, Assistant Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Mohd. Majid, Junior Engineer, Water Disposal Division; Ravi Kumar Rajneesh, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; Rafiul Hoda Ansari, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; Ratnesh Gautam, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division; and Prabhat Ranjan, Junior Engineer, Flood Control Division. The press release further said that in place of the damaged bridges, new bridges will be constructed at the risk and cost of the executive contractor. The release also said that on June 18, 2024, a culvert was damaged in Araria. Under the chairmanship of Nirmal Kumar, Chief Engineer, Rural Works Department, Purnia, a four-member investigation team was formed and the damaged bridge has been investigated. As a result of dereliction of duty in the construction work of the damaged bridge, Anjani Kumar, then Executive Engineer of Rural Works Department; Ashutosh Kumar Ranjan, present Executive Engineer; Virendra Prasad, then Junior Engineer; Manish Kumar, present Junior Engineer, have been suspended with immediate effect till further orders, the release said. (ANI)
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