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The Supreme Court on Monday granted more time to the Bihar government to file a reply to the petition seeking to issue a direction to the state government to conduct the highest-level structural audit of all existing bridges and under-construction bridges in the state and to demolish or retrofit weak structures depending on feasibility in the wake of bridge collapses in the state recently.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar gave the Bihar government six weeks more to file the reply to the petition and listed the matter for January 2025. But, the top court also made it clear that this is the last opportunity given to the Bihar Government tk file response in second para Counsel appearing for the Bihar Government sought more to file the reply to the petition. The court was hearing the petition filed by the petitioner and advocate, Brajesh Singh, who has urged the top court to issue a direction to the Bihar government to conduct the highest-level structural audit of all existing and under-construction bridges in the state and to demolish or retrofit weak structures depending on feasibility. The petitioner said that the instant issue of bridge collapses in Bihar requires an urgent consideration of the top court itself. Within two years, three major under-construction bridges and other several incidents of the collapse of large, medium, and small bridges also happened, wherein some people succumbed and others were injured in the said unfortunate man-made incidents and any day the major incidents of loss to human lives as well as loss to public exchequer can happen due to the gross negligence of the government and corrupt nexus of the contractors and concerned agencies. "It is a matter of grave concern that in the state like Bihar, which is the most flood-prone state of India, the total flood-affected area in the state is 68,800 sq. km., which is 73.06 per cent of the total geographical area of the state and hence such routine accrual of the incident of falling bridges in Bihar is more disastrous as the lives of people at large at stake and therefore the urgent intervention of this Hon'ble Court is required to save the lives of people at large who are in the present living in the uncertainty, as the under-construction bridges before its accomplishment got collapsed in the routine manner," the petitioner said. The petitioner has sought "appropriate direction, specifically the State of Bihar, for making proper policy or mechanism for real-time monitoring of the bridges constructed, old and under construction with regard to the bridges falling exclusively under the domain of the respondent, state of Bihar, on the same analogy as developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, vide dated March 4, 2024, for the preservation of National Highways and Centrally Sponsored Schemes and it was issued as a mandatory guideline vide, subjected, "identification and implementation of real-time health monitoring of bridges using sensors" to the states including the respondent." The petitioner has also sought to issue direction to respondents, specifically the State of Bihar for making an efficient permanent body through legislation or executive order, comprising high-level experts from the concerned field for continuous monitoring of all the existing and under-construction bridges in the State of Bihar and also for maintaining the comprehensive database on the health of all existing bridges in the state. The Public Interest Litigation has highlighted various bridge collapses, mostly river bridges, in the Bihar state in the districts Araria, Siwan, Madhubani, and Kishanganj, among others. (ANI)
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