Portion of under-construction bridge collapses in Palamu district

DALTONGANJ: A portion of an under-construction bridge over Amanat river between Dhub and Chhaterpur under Panki police station area collapsed due to the rains on Wednesday.
Suresh Paswan, the executive engineer of the special division of the state rural development department which is building the bridge, said, “The 22-meter-long deck slab has collapsed and the girder was demolished in the rain. The quality of the construction was poor and substandard. The deck slab must not have been cast in the rains and we had warned the construction agency not to do it but it but it did pay heed.”
Sources said that the Rs 8.33-crore project is being built by Sildilya Construction, which is owned by former Congress MLA Bittu Singh.
Paswan accused the construction company of bullying and claimed that out of the former MLA’s fear, the junior engineer and sub-divisional engineer avoided regular inspection of the construction site. He said that he is going to report the matter to the state government.
Local BJP MLA Shashibhushan Mehta, who visited the site on Wednesday, demanded a high-level inquiry into the collapse. “It could not withstand the rush of the first rains of the monsoon. The construction agency is notorious for flouting norms and no official ever dares to speak against the substandard work done by it.”