In the wake of several recent incidents of bridge collapses in Bihar, the state government on Friday suspended 14 engineers. Those suspended include three executive engineers.
A total of 10 bridges collapsed in Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj districts within a span of 17 days. The 10th bridge that collapsed was reported from Saran district on Thursday.
The government’s decision to suspend the officials came after a probe panel submitted its report to the Water Resources Department (WRD).
Additional Chief Secretary of WRD, Chaitanya Prasad, told reporters that the probe panel had found that the engineers were negligent and monitoring was ineffective that was the main reason behind the collapse of small bridges and causeways in the state.
Saran district saw collapse three bridges within 24 hours.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has instructed officials to conduct a survey of all old bridges and identify those that require immediate repairs.
The government has already ordered a probe into the bridge collapses.
