An under-construction bridge collapsed in Gujarat: at least 2 fatalities

Two people lost their lives when the girders of an under-construction bridge along National Highway 58 in Palanpur city, Banaskantha, collapsed on Monday afternoon. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who oversees the Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department, sent a team of senior engineers to investigate the primary cause of the accident. It is notified that the contract for building the bridge, valued at Rs 89 crore, was awarded to the private firm GP Chaudhary Infrastructure in 2021.

According to Palanpur police, the incident occurred near RTO Circle at approximately 3pm, where the under construction three-legged elevated bridge collapsed. Palanpur East Police Inspector S. K. Parmar reported that two individuals, including one seated in a rickshaw positioned beneath the bridge, lost their lives and that their bodies had been sent for postmortem to Palanpur Civil Hospital.

The two victims have been identified as Ajay Shrimali (30) and Mayur Parmar (20). The Chief Minister's Office issued an official statement expressing deep concern over the incident and instructed three senior engineers from various departments to investigate the primary causes behind the collapse. Furthermore, a Quality Control team from R&B in Gandhinagar is on the way to further investigate the incident and understand what happened.

It is outlined that the project involves the construction of a Railway Over Bridge by the state government's National Highway division, that will connect Ambaji with Palanpur. While the construction was ongoing, the girders had been placed on the pillars but they had not been tied to the structure, according to Banaskantha Collector Varunkumar Baranwal. Varunkumar Baranwal further explained that experts said the incident may have been due to a mechanical failure during the girder placement.