The Bihar government has issued a show-cause notice to a construction company after an under-construction bridge collapsed in the Bhagalpur district on June 4, PTI reported on Tuesday.

“The Haryana-based company, which was awarded the contract, has been served with a show cause notice by the Managing Director of Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam and asked to reply within 15 days,” said Pratyay Amrit, additional chief secretary for the Road Construction Department.

The bridge was being constructed by SP Singla Constructions Private Limited, according to The Indian Express.

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The firm has been told to explain why it should not be blacklisted by the government. “The department has also suspended the executive engineer concerned for his failure to keep an eye on the quality of the work,” the additional chief secretary said.

The bridge, which was being constructed over the Ganga river, was meant to connect the districts of Bhagalpur and Khagaria. A portion of the bridge had last collapsed on April 30 last year.

On June 4, the additional chief secretary had claimed that parts of the bridge had been demolished as part of a preventive exercise. However, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the incident occurred due to poor quality of work and that action would be taken against those responsible.

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The chief minister said that the project was to start in 2012, but was only commissioned in 2014. “There has been too much delay in the project,” he said.

Kumar added: “I had asked authorities concerned to look into the matter seriously after the fall of the superstructure last year. The work should be completed fast. The bridge is falling because it is not being constructed properly.”

On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in Opposition, alleged there was “rampant corruption” under the rule of the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

“Sub-standard materials were used for the construction of the bridge,” Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary said. “The CM [Nitish Kumar] is least bothered about the development of Bihar. He must resign from his post after this incident.”