Faulty design emerges as primary cause behind collapse of under-construction bridge in Malda

Kolkata: "Faulty design that was not rectified even after being identified" has been pointed out as the cause behind the collapse of the under-construction bridge across river Ganga, which is a Central government project, at Baisnabghata in Malda.

The incident claimed two lives including the son of the project's site in-charge Udayvir Singh, who claimed that the design was faulty and it had been informed to the concerned authorities.

"There was no written order to bring a change in it, though told verbally that if needed a shift in profile could be done," Singh added, saying that the load was given as per the design and all of a sudden the girder between pillar number 1 and 2 collapsed.

However, inquiry committees have been set up to ascertain the exact reason behind the incident. The district police have initiated an inquiry as well, along with National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI).

When contacted, Alok Rajoria, Superintendent of Police, Malda district, said: "We have also written to the State Forensic Science Laboratory. Their scientists will be inspecting the site and will file a report on their findings."

Usually 40 people used to work at the site. But there were only 16 on Sunday when a portion of the under-construction bridge collapsed. Of them, 5 fell victim to the mishap.

Srinivas Rao (40), who was an engineer from Andhra Pradesh and Sachin Pratap Singh (26) from Delhi, were killed. Sachin was the site-in-charge's son who had joined the project in January this year.

Three others have been injured, of which Mukesh Pandey from Uttar Pradesh and Ranjan Kumar from Bihar have sustained serious injuries. They are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kolkata, while one is admitted in Malda Medical College and Hospital.

Mukesh sustained injuries in his waist and leg while Ranjan received serious head injuries and is in ventilation till the last report came in.

According to the experts, it seems that the bearings were damaged first and subsequently the girders collapsed. It has been learnt that a company from Andhra Pradesh and another foreign company were jointly developing the 1.5 km long bridge. Construction of the bridge had started in January 2019 to ease out the pressure of traffic on National Highway 34.

Terming it as an unfortunate incident, TMC leader from Malda Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury alleged that a nexus has come up in the area to get cut money out of the project.

Questions have been raised over the quality of material being used for construction of the bridge. Local people have demanded a probe to ascertain whether poor quality material or faulty design led to the incident.