SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 25: A boat going from Nirsa in Dhanbad district to Jamtara capsized near Barbendia bridge in Barakar river due to a storm on Thursday evening (February 24).
According to the latest reports, 12 people are still missing while five have been rescued and sent to the hospital. Search and rescue operation by the NDRF is underway.
Meanwhile, Nirsa BJP MLA Aparna Sengupta has held Chief Minister Hemant Soren responsible for the boat tragedy.
She said that had the Barbendia bridge connecting Dhanbad- Jamtara districts at Nirsa been completed, Thursday’s tragedy would not have happened. The state government, despite knowing the importance of this bridge for the people of Dhanbad- Jamtara, continued to ignore its completion.
“I had raised the question for completion of the construction of Barbendia bridge several times in the assembly and even sat on dharna before the assembly for drawing the attention of the state government. I personally met the chief minister several times and requested for this bridge but he did not pay attention. Now, the result is in front of all of us,” she said while reacting to the tragedy on Friday morning.
Aparna Sengupta reached the river site from the Dhanbad side in the evening after the tragedy. The MLA said the victims were from Jamtara district who were returning after daily wage work in Dhanbad.
“As per my information, no one from Dhanbad was on the boat,” she said.
“I will raise the question in the assembly session about the delay in completion of the bridge which led to the tragedy as well as the life of people,” added the Nirsa MLA.
Notably, two pillars out of a total of 56 of the Barbendia bridge on the Barakar river were swept away on August 20, 2009, in a flood. Since then, people’s representatives have been demanding its reconstruction. In 2014, a high-level team of the state government had visited the spot for its assessment but no step was taken further.
As per officials, the bridge which is to be constructed at the cost of Rs 32 crores, would reduce the 65 km distance between Dhanbad- Jamtara to 16 km.
