Section of under-construction bridge over Ganga collapses in Bihar's Katihar

Section of an under-construction bridge over the Ganga collapsed in Bihar's Katihar district on Thursday, 8 August, officials said.

The small bridge was being built by the Rural Works Department to connect the Bakiya Sukhaye panchayat area to the district headquarters town, they said.

No casualty was reported as a result of the incident, they added.

"The construction of the bridge started recently. Two pillars of the small bridge collapsed. There might have been an increase in the river current, because of which the two pillars collapsed. The matter is being further examined," District Magistrate Manesh Kumar Meena said.

Niraj Kumar Singh, the minister in charge of Katihar district, said, "It is not appropriate to call it the collapse of an under-construction bridge."

"The construction started recently and only two pillars collapsed. The NDA government in Bihar has already made it clear that strict action will be taken against the officers and contractors if operational or fully constructed bridges collapse," he said.

A slew of bridges, big and small, have collapsed in different parts of the state over the last two months, prompting the government to suspend 15 engineers.