This is the 12th time that a 1,700 crore bridge has collapsed in Bhagalpur, Bihar.

This is the third collapse of the ambitious bridge this year; it has been under construction for nine years. This year’s incidents number twelve.

On Saturday, a segment of the Rs 1,710 crore Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge, which is still under construction, fell. This is the third incident involving the cable-stayed bridge in the last three years.

The bridge between pillars nine and ten collapsed in part. The event resulted in no reported injuries.

This is the 12th occurrence of the year and the 12th bridge collapse since June 18 of this year. The state’s safety was questioned due to the prior failures, and the opposition implied corruption.

Having been under construction for more than nine years, this specific 3.1 kilometer bridge across the Ganga has already had two collapses: on April 27, 2022, and on June 4, 2023. The superstructure of the bridge collapsed into the river below in both cases.

Notably, earlier this year, the state’s Nitish Kumar administration banned 15 engineers due to mounting worries about the increasing number of bridge failures.

The Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge, a flagship project of the Nitish Kumar administration, is intended to span the Kosi region of the state, which includes the districts of Khagaria, Saharsa, Madhepura, and Supaul, and connect it to the districts of Bhagalpur, Munger, and Jamui in the state, as well as the Deoghar and Godda in the neighboring state of Jharkhand.

Even though work on the project started in 2014, it is now just 45% finished.

The SP Singla Constructions Private Ltd. firm is in charge of the bridge project. Among its other Bihar projects is the construction of a new cable bridge that would run parallel to the Digha-Sonepur Rail-cum-Road Bridge near Patna.

Prior to its 2013 inauguration, the Baluaha Ghat Kosi collapsed, putting SP Singla under scrutiny. The corporation is working on additional bridge projects in areas like Uttar Pradesh and Assam in addition to the current assignment of building a parallel to Vikramshila Setu in Bhagalpur.

The project was supposed to be finished by November 2019, but there have already been eight delays. December of current year is the latest possible deadline.

On Saturday, a portion of the Rs 1,710 crore Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge under construction across the Ganges river in Bihar fell. This is the third time in the last three years that the cable-stayed bridge has fallen. There were no reported casualties from the fall, which happened between pillars nine and ten, according to The Indian Express.

This is the 12th occurrence of the year and the 12th bridge collapse since June 18 of this year.

The bridge that connects the districts of Bhagalpur and Khagaria collapsed, and residents can be seen in the popular video expressing fear as the structure gave way. The bridge had collapsed twice before, in 2022 and again a year later. When it was finished, it was supposed to span 3.16 kilometers.

One of the main projects of the Nitish Kumar administration is the Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge, which is meant to serve as an essential conduit between the northern and southern regions of Bihar. Its goal is to link the Kosi region—which consists of Khagaria, Saharsa, Madhepura, and Supaul—with the neighboring Jharkhand states of Bhagalpur, Munger, Jamui, and Deoghar and Godda.

According to Khagaria District Magistrate Amit Kumar Pandey, the contractor is dismantling the bridge in accordance with the Patna High Court’s directives because it was found to be defective.

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