Bihar: Newly built ropeway collapses during trial in Rohtas, no casualties

A major accident was narrowly averted on Friday when the newly constructed Rohtasgarh ropeway — reportedly built at a cost of nearly Rs 13 crore — in Bihar’s Rohtas district collapsed during a trial run, officials said, once again putting the spotlight on infrastructure quality in the state. No casualties were reported in the incident.

The mishap occurred when the ropeway linking Rohtas block with Rohtasgarh Fort and Rohiteshwar Dham gave way along with an attached support tower during load testing. Four trial trolleys were damaged, but workers at the site escaped unharmed, authorities said.

The collapse has reignited serious questions over construction standards, coming after a string of infrastructure failures in Bihar in recent years.

On 4 June 2023, a section of the under-construction Sultanganj-Aguwani Ghat four-lane bridge over the Ganga in Bhagalpur district collapsed, with portions of the superstructure plunging into the river. Videos went viral on social media and triggered criticism of construction quality.

The next day, state BJP leaders demanded the resignation of chief minister Nitish Kumar and called for a high-level inquiry, alleging widespread corruption and shoddy construction practices.

On 27–28 September 2024, another bridge portion collapsed into flood waters in Bhagalpur district, cutting off road traffic and prompting opposition leaders, including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, to accuse the Nitish Kumar government of deep-rooted corruption and administrative negligence that has led to over a dozen bridge collapses across the state in recent months.

Beyond high-profile river bridges, local reports have highlighted multiple smaller bridge failures earlier in 2022–23 in districts such as Purnea (15 May 2023), Katihar (July 2022), Gopalganj-Saran (July 2022), and others — often blamed by residents and critics on poor materials and oversight.

Speaking to reporters after the latest incident, Khursheed Karim, senior engineer of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited, said the ropeway failure occurred during standard testing. “Trial and testing work is underway. While increasing load, a wire got stuck, leading to the damage,” he said.

Karim added that substantial work remains and is being done gradually. “A team from Kolkata is coming to conduct an investigation. Ropeway service will not be made available to the general public until the authorities are fully satisfied with the trial results,” he said.

The Rohtas incident has once again drawn calls from opposition politicians and civic activists for independent audits, stricter quality control checks and accountability mechanisms in Bihar’s burgeoning infrastructure projects to prevent repeat failures.

With PTI inputs