The bridge, a part of the state highway connecting Sarwan, Chakai, Jasidih and Chopa was on the Jasidih-Deoghar stretch.
It served as a vital link to Jamui and Banka in Bihar, and would have been used by thousands of pilgrims returning to the neighbouring state after offering prayers at Deoghar’s Baidyanath Dham and Basukinath during the mela, which begins on July 16 this year.
According to reports, 11 of the bridge’s 14 supporting pillars gave way, throwing traffic out of gear. The Deoghar district administration diverted the traffic via Rohini, forcing vehicles en route Jasidih to cover an extra five kilometres.
PWD executive engineer for Deoghar Jai Prakash Singh said the bridge, construction of which was completed in 1978, collapsed due to last night’s heavy rain.
“The river was in spate and the swift current eroded the already weak pillars of the bridge further,†he said, adding that an alternative solution would be worked out soon to cope with the rush of pilgrims, once the river subsided a little.
As construction of a new bridge would take at least a couple of years, the authorities were looking at setting up a bailey bridge over the river as a stopgap measure.
Meanwhile, BJP MP from Godda Nishikant Dubey and Deoghar’s RJD MLA Suresh Paswan demanded a thorough probe into the incident, alleging poor quality of construction was responsible for today’s incident.
“The way the bridge collapsed shows lack of supervision on the part of the authorities concerned,†Paswan said after visiting the site.
Speaking from Canada, Dubey expressed concern over the incident and demanded immediate alternative arrangements to ensure minimum inconvenience to pilgrims and others.
PWD officials too admitted that poor quality of construction could be the reason why the bridge collapsed but pleaded ignorance when asked how much the project had cost and the name of the executing company involved.
Meanwhile, local residents said the Army should be called in to build an alternative bridge immediately.
Yet others expressed the fear that another bridge on the same river, near Rohini, could meet a similar fate.