New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (November 4) agreed to list a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for hearing raising concerns on the collapsing of several bridges in Bihar recently and seeking structural audit of all the recently completed and under construction bridges in the state.
The plea was mentioned for listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra by a lawyer representing petitioner advocate Brajesh Singh.
CJI Chandrachud told the petitioner’s lawyer, “I will look into this” and asked the lawyer whether an email regarding this was sent to his office.
Apex court earlier sought response of Bihar govt, NHAI and others
The top court, while hearing the PIL earlier in July, had issued notice and sought the response of the Bihar government, National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI), additional chief secretary of the Road Construction Department, chairperson of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd and additional chief secretary of the rural works department.
Bridge collapses have become a routine affair due to deliberate apathy shown by Bihar govt: Petitioner
The petitioner, while highlighting that there is serial collapsing of bridges in the state of Bihar, submitted that the number of collapsing of bridges has increased in Bihar in recent times posing a threat to the human life at large. It further said that it has become a routine affair due to deliberate apathy shown by the state government of Bihar and in the absence of any effective action against persons responsible for the collapsing of bridges.
Old bridges in Bihar also must be audited and monitored: Petitioner
The petition, which also seeks that old bridges in the state of Bihar also must be audited and monitored, has said that “Such routine accrual of the incident of falling bridges in Bihar is more disastrous as the lives of people at large are at stake. Therefore the urgent intervention of this court is required to save the lives of people, as the under-construction bridges before its (their) accomplishment collapsed routinely.”
Ten incidents of bridge collapse were reported from Bihar recently from several district of Bihar.
