Nitish and Co tie themselves up in knots to explain Bihar bridge collapse

The under-construction bridge, which collapsed in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, was being built under the supervision of McElhanney, a Vancouver, Canada-based company.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

It was providing the contractor of the said project, the Haryana-based SP Singla construction company, with the design and engineering service for the bridge. As per records, McElhanney was engaged by the original contractor to construct this bridge in 2017. The said 3.16 km long bridge was being built over the Ganga river at a massive cost of Rs 1,710 crore when it collapsed on Sunday evening.

What has brought McElhanney on the radar is the fact that it is for the second time that the under-construction bridge collapsed. It had earlier collapsed on 30 April 2022. The administrative approval for the project was given in November 2013. Since then, India has seen two Presidents taking oath and two general elections being held. Bihar has since then seen Chief Ministerial oaths four times — once Jitan Manjhi and thrice Nitish Kumar.