Bhagalpur Bridge Collapse: Tejashwi wants action against construction firm after declaring it 'deliberate demolition'

After claiming that Bhagalpur bridge collapse was a planned demolition as experts had found ‘serious defects’ in its design, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday bit the bullet saying that a showcause notice has been issued to the construction firm and action will be taken against those found responsible.Addressing the reporters on Tuesday, he said, "A showcause notice is being issued to the construction company, and action will be taken against those found responsible. The bridge will be constructed in a time-bound manner as it is a dream project of CM. When I was in opposition, I had raised the issue regarding pillar number 5 of the bridge."Videos of the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge collapsing had gone viral on social media prompting sharp criticisms from the opposition BJP. The bridge was supposed to connect Khagaria district with Bhagalpur.During a press conference on Sunday, Tejashwi Yadav, along with Pratyay Amrit, the additional chief secretary of the road construction department, stated that no casualties were reported in the incident. They explained that the decision to demolish the bridge was made following a previous collapse of a section during a thunderstorm in 2022.In response, the government had engaged researchers from IIT-Roorkee to analyse the structure, said Yadav.Amrit expressed that the government chose not to take any risks by waiting for the final report before dismantling sections of the bridge that were deemed "flawed.""It may be recalled that a portion of this bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year. I strongly raised it in my capacity as the then Leader of the Opposition. Upon coming to power, we ordered an inquiry and sought expert opinion…approached IIT-Roorkee, which is esteemed for its expertise in construction matters, to conduct a study. It is yet to come up with a final report but experts who had studied the structure had informed us that there were serious defects," Yadav said at the press conference.Yadav added that several 'vulnerable' parts of the bridge, said to have been built at an estimated cost of ₹1,700 crore, have already been pulled down due to structural flaws.In response to the incident, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar instructed Amrit to provide a comprehensive report on the incident and emphasised the need for strict actions to be taken against those responsible.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.