Bihar’s Crumbling Bridges Mirror the Collapse of Its Political Class

Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s CM and an engineer, now risks being remembered for a legacy of collapsing bridges that have become all too frequent.

By MANISH ANAND

New Delhi, November 4, 2025 — Bridges are falling and sinking in Bihar at scale unseen anywhere. One more bridge, inaugurated three years ago, bent midway yesterday in Araria. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trumpeting ruling NDA (National Democratic Alliance) achievements only a few kilometres away in Katihar.

The fresh bridge, which bent at mid-way but remains open for commuters, caught attention of the people in the poll bound state, It adds to a long list of questionable infrastructure built in recent years. Bridges are washed away. Roads cave in with a few spells of heavy rains. But a new class of contractors rose in Bihar with questionable sets of engineers on roll to undertake small infrastructure projects specially curated so that they could bid and win tenders by bidding low.

The Araria bridge that bent at its mid-section was built at a cost of ₹4 crores. Road projects in similar ways are split in such ways that contractors of small means can bid and win tenders.

Bridge collapses have become a grim metaphor for Bihar’s crumbling governance. A decades-old bridge over the Gandaki River in Siwan collapsed on June 23, 2024, followed by the fall of an under-construction bridge in Ghodasahan block of East Champaran earlier this year. Between June 27 and 30, two more bridges gave way in Kishanganj — one built in 2007–08 with MPLAD funds and another in 2011. Reports of similar incidents have poured in from across the state — Kishanganj, Araria, Madhubani, Saran, and Siwan — painting a distressing picture of systemic neglect.

Even the under-construction bridge in Sultanganj, which was washed away last year, stands as a reminder that in Bihar, infrastructure collapses have become routine rather than rare.

Ironically, a British-built rail bridge near Buxar in Bihar still stands firm, carrying loads of railway traffic. A long chat with a supervisor working with one such civil firm which builds bridges in Bihar said that such assets lack quality audits. Diploma holders are routinely employed in place of civil engineers.

With Central funds flowing, Bihar in recent years has seen a burst of a new crop of contractors who have fattened their moneybags to call shots in state’s politics. Some of them expanded ambitions to become builders, first in Bihar and then the Delhi NCR.

The cocktail of contractor-politician nexus has arguably given Bihar a monicker of a state where bridges are washed away and roads cave in with the first sight of rains. Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s Chief Minister and an engineer by training, now risks being remembered for a legacy of collapsing bridges that have become all too frequent.

(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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