17 engineers suspended for multiple bridge collapses in Bihar.

17 engineers suspended for multiple bridge collapses in Bihar.

Patna July 5: The Bihar government has suspended 17 engineers following multiple bridge collapses in the state over the last three weeks.

During the preliminary investigation, these engineers were found to have allegedly performed their duties negligently. This action underscores the state’s commitment to addressing the serious issues in its infrastructure management and holding accountable those responsible for the structural failures. 

Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Resource Department, and Deepak Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary of the Rural Work Department of the Bihar government, confirmed the suspension of 17 engineers.

Out of the 17 suspended engineers, 11 are from the Water Resources Department. Among them, two executive engineers named Amit Anand and Kumar Brijesh, four assistant engineers Raj Kumar, Chandramohan Jha, Simran Anand, and Neha Rani and five junior engineers Mohammad Majeed, Ravi Kumar Rajneesh, Rafi-Ul-Hoda Ansari, Ratnesh Gautam, and Prabhat Ranjan are facing the charges of negligence.

Additionally, six engineers from the Rural Works Department have been suspended based on an investigation report. These include two executive engineers Anjani Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar Ranjan, and four junior engineers Virendra Prasad, and Manish Kumar. Two others are already suspended for other irregularities and they were allegedly involved in bridge collapses matter.

“Nine bridges had collapsed in different districts of the state till Thursday with six being very old and three under construction. On July 3 and 4, six culverts built on the Chhadi and Gandaki Rivers collapsed in Siwan and Saran districts,” Prasad said.

“The action is being taken against contractors, including initiating the blacklisting process to prevent them from being allotted any future work. Recovery of payments made to the contractors is underway according to the relevant provisions and pending payments for all contractor works have been stopped immediately,” Prasad said.

Additional Chief Secretary of the Rural Works Department, Deepak Kumar Singh, said: “Three culverts of the department were damaged. A four-member investigation team, led by Chief Engineer Nirmal Kumar, was constituted to investigate the matter. Based on the investigation report, six engineers have been suspended.”

Chaitanya Prasad explained that the bridges and culverts involved in the recent collapses were part of Bihar’s river linking scheme, aimed at maintaining uninterrupted river flow in Gopalganj, Siwan, and Saran districts under the Jal Jeevan Hariyali Abhiyan. This initiative includes linking multiple rivers together.

He mentioned that as part of this scheme, a project costing 69.89 crores is underway to remove silt along a 170-kilometer stretch, with a width of 19 meters and an average depth of 3 meters. The target for completing this project is March 2025.

During the investigation, it was discovered that the engineers responsible for implementing this work had allegedly neglected safety measures for the bridges and culverts located on these rivers. As a result, disciplinary action has been taken against these engineers.

EOM.