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One dead, three injured as major portion of over 50-year-old bridge collapses in MPs Raisen

BHOPAL: A major portion of a more than 50-year-old bridge collapsed in Madhya Pradeshs Raisen district on Monday, killing a 35-year-old man and injuring at least three others. While a three-member enquiry committee has been constituted to probe the matter, AA Khan, who is a manager of the MP Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) has been suspended. The portion of the bridge in Nayagaon area on the Bareli-Pipariya State Highway in Raisen district collapsed while a motorcycle and scooter were passing over it. At least four persons, all of them riding the two-wheelers, sustained serious injuries in the mishap. They were first rushed to Bareli Civil Hospital from where doctors referred some of them to AIIMS-Bhopal. One of the injured, identified as Devendra Dhakad (35), succumbed to wounds during the course of treatment at AIIMS-Bhopal. As per informed sources in Raisen district, Dhakad was returning to his village in Raisen after the Bidai ceremony of his sister, who was married on Sunday. The bridge, built in 1980, was under repair and maintenance work by the MPRDC, when its portion collapsed. The labourers working under the bridge, however, had a close shave. A sum of Rs 98 lakh was sanctioned for the repair and maintenance of the bridge, due to rusting of reinforcement slabs. Owing to the incident, the road traffic on the concerned route has been diverted through the old culvert in the Nayagaon Kalan village. The Raisen district collector Arun Kumar Vishwakarma and district police superintendent Ashutosh went to the spot and later took stock of the condition of the injured at the hospital. Subsequently, the state government suspended AA Khan, a manager at the MPRDC, and issued show-cause notices to the current and former divisional managers and assistant managers, official sources in Bhopal, said. Also, a three-member inquiry committee headed by chief engineer Gopal Singh has been constituted and given a weeks time to submit its fact-finding report.