In a scathing attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar following a bridge collapse in the state, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) of pervasive corruption and crime.
“Since the day Nitish Kumar became the CM, if we leave aside only 18 months of my tenure, then the entire time the Rural Works Department has been with the JD(U). This ministry and Bihar are constantly witnessing corruption,” Yadav said.
He further added, “Incidents of crime are constantly happening in Bihar. This is an amazing game of double engine: one engine is engaged in corruption and one engine is engaged in crime.”
Tejashwi Yadav criticised the current administration for issues such as unemployment, poverty, and inflation, blaming the recent bridge collapse on the negligence and inefficiency of the JD(U) and its allies. “Those people who have increased unemployment, poverty, inflation, those people in whose tenure the bridge collapsed, we will not let them return to power,” he told ANI.
Commenting upon the government’s inefficiencies, Yadav said, “It took 6 to 8 months just to bring money into the department in my 18 months, but for 17 to 18 years, the Rural Works Department was with them, and all these bridges that are collapsing were constructed during their tenure. There are paper leaks happening, and crime is continuously increasing in Bihar.”
On Thursday, another bridge collapsed in Saran, bringing the total number of such incidents in the past two weeks to ten. This prompted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to request an inspection report of all under-construction and old bridges in the state within two weeks.
The collapsed bridge, which connected the Saraiya and Satua panchayats over the Gandaki River, disrupted communication in over 50 villages.
Saran District Magistrate Aman Samir, who visited the site, told reporters, “The bridge was built with local funds around 15 years ago. Though the exact reason for the collapse is not known, desilting work had been done recently.”
This is the second collapse in Saran this week; a portion of a 150-year-old bridge gave way on Wednesday. Since June 18, ten bridges have collapsed in Kishanganj, Araria, East Champaran, Madhubani, Siwan, and Saran.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a high-level meeting to assess the situation and directed the rural works, road construction, and building construction departments to submit an inspection report of all under-construction and old bridges.