A culvert collapsed in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar.
A culvert collapsed in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar.
Patna September 27, 2024: A culvert in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district collapsed due to a strong flow of water early Friday morning.
The structure was constructed by the PWD two years ago at Chaukhandi village under Baburpur Bakharpur East Panchayat in the Pirpaiti block of the district.
The villagers claimed that the culvert had shown signs of damage on Thursday night, with one side appearing bent. By Friday morning, the entire stricture had fallen into the water.
Due to the collapsed culvert, the Pirpaiti block disconnected from the district headquarters impacting the movement of about 1 lakh villagers from six Panchayats.
The collapse of the Chaukhandi culvert highlights a growing concern over infrastructure stability amid severe flooding in Bihar. The culver broke from the middle and fell into the water due to a strong current, raising questions about the quality of its construction and the adequacy of flood resistance measures.
The situation is dire across Bhagalpur, with floodwaters submerging roads and putting other bridges and infrastructure at risk.
This marked the third such incident in Bihar within five days. Earlier, a bridge collapsed in Munger and a span of an under-construction four-lane bridge between Bakhtiyarpur in Patna and Tajpur in Samastipur also collapsed in the Ganga River.
Following the incident, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav criticized the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government of Bihar, uploading a video of the incident on the social media platform X.
In his post, Yadav, accused the Nitish Kumar government of rampant corruption, stating, “In Nitish Kumar’s regime, the roots of corruption are as deep as the pillars of the bridge are shallow, that is why in the last 2-3 months, hundreds of bridges and mega bridges built and under construction at the cost of thousands of crores have collapsed.”
Tejashwi Yadav also questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s silence on the issue, suggesting that the government has failed to address or take action against the major culprits behind the alleged corruption.
He further said, “Have you ever heard the Chief Minister make any statement on the corruption of these falling bridges or has he ever taken any action against the big whale of corruption? After all, how will he do it? He is the one who has made those small restless fishes into whales by feeding them.”
This statement underscores the intensifying political debate over infrastructure quality in Bihar, with opposition leaders using incidents like these to highlight the government’s accountability in handling corruption and disaster management, especially amidst the flood crisis.
Also Read: A Bailey bridge was damaged in Jamui.
EOM.