Dikhyaa Mohanty 
On Tuesday morning, a 10-foot-long section of a bridge that was part of National Highway-16, which connects Kolkata and Chennai, near Rasulpur in the Jajpur district of Odisha, fell. Since there were no vehicles using the bridge when it collapsed, there were no injuries or casualties recorded. After hearing a loud bang, people hurried to the scene and alerted the authorities to the fallen section of the bridge; as a result, traffic was diverted. Additionally, a roadblock has been placed to prevent vehicle movement along the troubled area.
According to government authorities, the bridge that collapsed was built about 2008, and poor construction appears to be the cause of the accident. To improve traffic flow, senior transport and police personnel were stationed along the national highway. The occurrence was deemed a “structural failure” by JP Verma, project director for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), after an examination.
“To investigate what caused the tragedy, a team of experts has been enlisted. After the professional team’s verification, we will know the precise cause. We also brought in professional experts to restore and normalize the flow, Verma informed the press.
Verma said that a bridge should last at least 50 years and that there was no maintenance issue because it was being carried out routinely. He said that the incident happened abruptly.
