Saharsa (Bihar), Jul 10: Bihar witnessed another bridge collapse on Wednesday, making it the 13th such incident in the state in a span of three weeks, an official said.

The bridge collapsed at Mahishi village in Saharsa district earlier in the day, he said.

“It might be a small bridge or causeway. District officials have left for the spot. We are trying to gather more information about the incident,” Additional Collector (Saharsa), Jyoti Kumar, said.

There were no reports of any injury or fatality.

The Bihar government has suspended at least 15 engineers in connection with the series of recent incidents of bridge collapse reported from various districts, including Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had last week instructed officials to conduct a survey of all old bridges in the state and identify those that require immediate repair.

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New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.

Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.

In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.

"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.

"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.

"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.

The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.