Villagers, who are worst hit by the collapse of the Haradih-Budhadih bridge, blame rampant illegal sand mining and poor quality of construction by the contractor who enjoyed political patronage for the incident.

The bridge over Kanchi river, which connects two Assembly constituencies of Tamar and Silli (both in Ranchi district), was sanctioned in 2013-14. Construction began in 2014-15 and got completed in 2018 during the tenure of the Raghubar Das-led BJP government.

The nearly 600-metre-long and over 12-foot-high bridge was built at a cost of Rs 13 crore.

Its one pier (out of the total 25 piers) collapsed on Thursday and two adjoining piers got damaged by heavy rain during Cyclone Yaas.

Villagers of Tamar block told The Telegraph that another bridge over the same river — Bamladih Ghat bridge — connecting Sonahatu (in Silli) with Tamar also met the same fate during the monsoon of July 2019.

“Both the bridges are hardly 10km from each other and were built by the same contractor A.N. Pandey from Ranchi. We have information that he had the patronage of former road construction minister and current Silli MLA Sudesh Mahato (president of Ajsu, an alliance partner of the erstwhile BJP government). We have been raising our voice against the poor quality of construction materials used in the bridge and this was compounded by illegal sand mining, which disturbed the river topography and increased the water load on the bridge span leading to its collapse,” said Sufal Mahato, a CPI leader in Rahe village under Sonahatu block of Silli.

Mahato has written a letter to the Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren for a high level probe into the bridge collapse, citing it as an example of corruption.

“We have seen Bamladih Ghat bridge also meeting the same fate once in July 2017 and again in July 2019 (before the Assembly polls). However, no action was initiated by the then BJP government against the contractor. If the probe is done in the right manner, things will become clearer,” Mahato said.

Tamar MLA and JMM leader Vikas Munda (who was earlier with the Ajsu) also hinted at corruption in the construction of the bridges.

The Bamladih Ghat bridge over the river Kanchi, which collapsed in 2019

“It is true that both the bridges were built by the same contractor and there should be a probe into the quality of materials used in the construction. In fact, I had written to the rural development secretary, complaining about the poor quality of materials used in the bridge construction in 2014. But no action was taken,” Munda said.

Several attempts to contact Sudesh Mahato till 7.30pm received the response “mobile is not reachable”.

However, Ajsu state spokesperson Deosharan Bhagat denied the allegation of political patronage.

“We want a thorough probe into the reason behind the collapse of both the bridges. Merely making baseless allegations against our leader would not do. Every aspect should be looked into during the probe. Sudesh

Mahatoji has always been with the people and is known for setting up infrastructure for the people of his constituency and the state,” Bhagat said.

State rural development secretary Aradhana Patnaik (who was transferred on Friday evening) told said that a three-member probe committee had been directed to submit their findings at the earliest.

“The three-member probe team, comprising engineer-in-chief of the road construction department Murari Bhagat, engineer-in-chief of building construction Sanjay Kumar Singh and engineer-in-chief of Jharkhand State Rural Development Authority Jai Prakash Singh, has been directed to complete the probe and submit findings at the earliest,” Patnaik said.

Hemant on Friday afternoon directed the constitution of a high-level team to probe the reason behind the collapse of the Haradih-Budhadih bridge.

“Corruption and loot of the public exchequer will not be tolerated at any cost during my tenure,” Hemant tweeted in Hindi.

Baidyanath Mahato, a school teacher and a resident of Tamar, said they would now have to go to

Sonahatu by covering a circuitous route of over 30km and would also have to touch NH-33 to reach Bundu.