Under-construction bridge collapses in Himachal's Hamirpur, no casualties

An under-construction bridge in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district collapsed, officials said on Friday.

However, there were no reports of injuries as the construction workers were not present at the site when the bridge collapsed on Thursday night, they said.

Also Read | Himachal Pradesh Dy CM Mukesh Agnihotri sustains head injury, hospitalised

The construction workers had laid three slabs of the bridge on the Kot-Jahoo Road. The bridge ostensibly collapsed a few hours after the shuttering of one of the slabs was removed, the officials added.

The 75-metre-long bridge is being constructed at a cost of Rs 2,423 crore.

Public Works department assistant engineer Anil Kumar said technical deficiencies were discovered during inspection of the bridge by senior officials and the contractor was directed to rectify those.

Also Read | HP govt endeavouring to send teachers abroad for exposure: CM

Vijay Chowdhary, the department's superintending engineer in the district, said a report had been sought from the executive engineer and added that he would visit the spot again.

The work was allotted in 2020 and construction began in 2021. The government has already paid 35 per cent of the total cost to the contractor.