A section of the new four-lane bridge being built over the Ganga River in Bhagalpur, Bihar, collapsed for the third time. This part of the bridge, between pillars 9 and 10, fell into the river, raising concerns about the bridge’s safety.

The local District Magistrate, Amit Kumar Pandey, said that the faulty part of the bridge will be taken down by the contractor, following orders from the Patna High Court. The bridge construction has been stopped for now. Luckily, no one was hurt in this latest collapse.

The SP Singla construction company is responsible for this bridge, known as the Mahasetu. So far, ₹1717 crore has been spent on it, but it has already collapsed three times. This bridge is supposed to connect the Khagaria and Bhagalpur districts, but the repeated collapses have raised questions about how the bridge is being built and if the safety measures are enough.

Construction was stopped temporarily because of flooding in the Ganga, which made building even harder. The work began in 2014 and has missed its completion deadline eight times. The bridge was also damaged by a storm in April 2022.

These repeated collapses have led to calls for an investigation to find out why this is happening and to make sure future projects are safer. Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has called for an investigation to identify the reasons for the collapses and hold those responsible accountable. He also questioned if there might be a political reason behind the frequent bridge failures this year.

Earlier, in December 2022, a bridge over the Burhi Gandak River in Begusarai also collapsed. In November 2022, a bridge in Nalanda district collapsed, causing one death and an injury. Similar incidents have occurred in Kishanganj and Saharsa districts as well.