The collapse of a part of the bridge over the Ghaggar river near Ratia town in the district within days of it being declared fit for use has exposed the working of the public works department. The bridge was opened for vehicular traffic only last week and a part of it caved in yesterday. Poor repairs whereby the contractors filled the chasm created during the last accident with soil and stones without its proper compression is said to be the reason behind yesterday's incident. Sources said the authorities had blacklisted the contractor. The authorities are now contemplating of blocking the flow of water from a portion of the bridge that caved in yesterday so that the incident does not recur. Meanwhile, additional deputy commissioner C.G. Rajnikanthan has submitted his report on the June 16 incident of bridge collapse to the commissioner, Hisar division. Rajnikanthan is also learnt to have held the contractor as well as officials of the public works department (buildings and roads) responsible for the bridge collapse that resulted in death of Sonu Garg and his four-year-old son Jatin on June 16. According to sources, the ADC had said in his report that a timely ban on the flow of traffic on the bridge on June 16 could have saved the two lives. The report said there was a gross negligence on the part of the PWD (B&R) authorities, who had not repaired the bridge, the only link between Haryana and Punjab in this area, for the past 25 years. Such was the lackadaisical approach of the authorities that they took two years to start the repair work on the bridge after its proposal was made in 2006. The report said the condition of the bridge was such that it should have been banned for vehicular traffic from the morning of June 16, but no one cared to do so. The ADC had recorded the versions of over 20 persons, besides Ratia SDM Yogesh Mehta, an XEN, an SDO and two junior engineers of the PWD (B&R) and some other government officials before completing his report.