SP Singla Construction, the maker of the under-construction Bhagalpur bridge that collapsed on Sunday, is under the government scanner now. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav and additional chief secretary of road construction department, Pratyay Amrit, said in a press conference that the collapse was deliberately done under expert advice. They said that a portion of the bridge had collapsed on April 30 last year, following which serious structural defects were identified.
Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the construction was incorrect due to which the bridge collapsed repeatedly. “The bridge that collapsed yesterday had collapsed last year also. I have instructed officials to take strict action. It is not being constructed correctly that's why it is collapsing again and again. The department will look into it and action will be taken,” he said.
However, the construction company, whose work at the Bhagalpur bridge has come under the scrutiny and is facing severe backlash, has in the past received multiple awards from the central as well as state governments for its ‘outstanding’ work.
In 2020, the company was awarded with the National Highways Excellence Award 2020 in Bridge category by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
In 2019, the company was awarded the Gold Award at the National Highways Awards for Excellence in the category of outstanding work in challenging conditions for construction of High Level Bridge on River Hatania-Doania in the South Pargana district, West Bengal. The award was presented by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and received by CMD SP Singla.
In 2016-17, the company had won the best contractor award by Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation, and an appreciation award by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
It had also received a citation for the 592 mt Atal Setu Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge in the country procured under a design build scheme, in record time.
Separately, the company is already working on multiple projects such as the new 2-lane bridge across Brahmaputra at Jogighopa in Assam, the bridge across Narmada on the Dabhoi-Sinor-Malsar-Asa Road, Vadodara in Gujarat, high-level bridge across Mahi at Sangameshwar in Rajasthan, 3-lane high-level bridge across Brahmani in Odisha, new 6-lane bridge across Ganga on NH-96 (new NH-330) at Prayagraj in UP, a major bridge over Iring for new BG railway line Jiribum – Tipul, Imphal, and more.
However, the Bhagalpur bridge, constructed at a cost of over Rs 1,700 crore, was supposed to have been completed by November 2019. After a delay of 3 years, the collapse on Sunday has added to the setback.
The bridge, located over the Ganga river, was to connect Sultanganj and Khagaria.
Amrit, during the press conference said that it was decided that they must not take any chance and wait for a final report from IIT-Roorkee, and hence pulled down parts of the bridge. Once the final report comes, which is expected shortly, the state government would contemplate action like lodging of FIR and blacklisting the company which was awarded the contract, he said.