Shimla: A large portion of a bridge under construction over River Pabbar on the Rohru by-pass road collapsed today afternoon. The bridge was being constructed to connect Bakheerana on the left bank of the bridge. No causalities were reported.
Taking cognizance of the Bakheerna bridge collapse, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur directed the quality control cell of the government to investigate the matter.
Chairman of the quality control cell Sanjay Kundu constituted an investigative team consisting of Superintending Engineer Deepak Sharma, Executive Engineer Lalit Grover and Assistant Engineer Devesh Thakur, who have been asked to submit their findings at the earliest.
“Strict action would be taken against all erring person,” said Kundu.
Construction of the 96-meter-long bridge was started in June 2018. At about 2.40 p.m. on Wednesday, 66 meters of the bridge overlay collapsed while the remaining 30 meters was intact.
HP Government Press Release
Three PWD Engineers placed under suspension for dereliction in duties
The State Government has placed under suspension the then Executive Engineer, HPPWD, Division Rohru and presently posted at Theog Ravi Bhatti, Assistant Engineer, Rohru Narender Singh Naik and Junior Engineer, Civil, HPPWD, Rohru Section Vijay Kumar for their negligence in proper supervision and monitoring in construction of double lane bridge over River Pabbar at Bakhirna in Rohru of Shimla district which collapsed/damaged on 13th of this month.
Disclosing this, Principal Secretary PWD J.C. Sharma said here today that on the directions of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the State Government constituted a three members committee to inquire into the reasons of its collapse. He said that as per the report in addition to technical shortcomings in construction of the said bridge, negligence in proper supervision and monitoring was also pointed out. He said that a detailed inquiry in the matter was conducted and all these three engineers were found primarily responsible for this lapse. He said that these officers have been put under suspension and show cause notices were being issued to remaining officers/officials posted and associated with the said construction work.
J.C. Sharma said that the State Government led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was committed for ensuring quality construction of developmental works and any laxity in this regard would be viewed seriously and strict action would be taken against the erring officials.