“Bahut dukh hota hai. Mujhe to lagta hai ki sidhe Ganga Dolphins ke ghar me ghus kar unka murder kiya gaya hai, unko maara gaya hai,” (It makes me very sad. I feel as if they directly entered the homes of the Ganga Dolphins and murdered them, killed them), says Dr. Gopal Sharma, the interim Director of the National Dolphin Research Centre.
He recalls the collapse of the Agwani-Sultanganj bridge in Bihar’s Bhagalpur in August 2024. The bridge has been under construction since 2014 and partially collapsed three times: in 2022, 2023, and lastly in August 2024. Each time, tons of concrete and steel are dumped into the Ganga.
The debris is one of the many threats that Ganga Dolphins face.
Boats Replace Broken Bridge Paths
Without the bridge, wooden boats are the local transport. These boats zoom by, their engines drowning out the dolphins’ clicks and sometimes hitting the animals. Unregulated fishing threatens dolphins and other fish. Climate shifts bring floods and dry spells, which shrink the river ecosystem. Dolphins, long-nosed crocodiles, and turtles are all suffering from climate change.
For thousands of years, the river Ganga has been home to the Gangetic dolphins (Platanista gangetica gangetica), locally called susu. These pinkish-grey mammals, measuring around the length of a small boat, swim the murky waters of the river Ganga without vision. They use clicks and echoes to paint pictures in their minds.
The dolphins, India’s national aquatic animal, are listed as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. As per the Environment Ministry, India has an estimated 6,324 Gangetic dolphins. Ninety percent are in the Ganga and its tributaries, while most of the rest are in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
The state of Bihar has the second-highest dolphin population (2,220 individuals). Hundreds of them live in the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur in a 60-kilometer stretch from Sultanganj to Kahalgaon.
But threats are piling up.
Rakesh Kumar, 38, a sturdy fisherman and boatman, was an eyewitness to the bridge’s most recent collapse. With calloused hands and a sun-beaten face, he said with sadness rather than anger. “Gussa kar ke kya hoga? Sarkar ki galti hai. Jab pul gira tab hume to bahut dukh hua. Ban jata to hamare liye bahut acha hota”. (What will anger achieve? It’s the government’s mistake. When the bridge collapsed, we felt very sad. If it had been built, it would have been very good for us.)
For the past 12 years, Rakesh has used his boat to ferry passengers across the 3-kilometre-wide stretch of river. Without boatmen like him, locals would travel 40 kilometres by road to reach the other side.
“Pul banega to naav chhor kar k bahar chale jayenge kamane” (If the bridge gets built, we will leave our boats and go outside to earn a living),” he says.
He stood at the bank of the Ganga, painting his new wooden boat with coal tar. This is how he prepares for the monsoon rains and flooding season. When the Ganga swells in the monsoons, his ferrying stops. He turns to fishing for survival.
Dolphins Trapped in Deadly Nets
Fishing is generally restricted in areas designated as dolphin sanctuaries, though regulations vary by location. In the Bhagalpur sanctuary, for example, fishing—particularly with harmful gear such as certain types of gill nets—is either prohibited or being gradually phased out to reduce the risk of accidental injury or death to dolphins.
“These dolphins frequently die as bycatch, getting entangled in synthetic fishing nets, which is their leading cause of death”, River ecologist Subhasis Dey, who was part of the Riverine Ecosystems and Livelihoods program at the Wildlife Conservation Trust in Mumbai, notes.
Dey has worked in the riverscapes of Bihar for over 25 years. “Certain fishermen hunt dolphins to obtain their oil, which is then used as bait to lure fish,” he adds.
Despite the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which prohibits dolphin hunting in India, illegal hunting and poaching of Gangetic river dolphins persist. The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has monitored these incidents since January 2020. Their reports, published in January 2021 and April 2022, documented the deaths of at least 21 Gangetic dolphins over two years (2020–2021). A subsequent report revealed that an additional 10 dolphins died in 2022–23, with poaching and hunting identified as significant causes in many cases, alongside other factors.
Notable incidents include a September 14th, 2022, report by Prabhat Khabar, which highlighted the suspicious deaths of three Gangetic dolphins in Bhagalpur within the previous six months.
On September 25th, 2022, a carcass of an endangered Gangetic dolphin was found in the shallow waters of the Dikrong River in Dongeebeel, Bihpuria, Lakhimpur, with a deep cut on its back, suggesting an attack by fishermen. Earlier, on September 2nd, 2021, two dolphin carcasses, suspected to have been killed by poachers, were recovered in Salpara under Kamrup West Division.
These incidents underline the threat these endangered species face despite legal protections.
Santosh Mahaldar, a Dolphin Mitra, works with a team in the Barari area, which is a locality near the dolphin sanctuary in Bhagalpur. His main job: to prevent the locals from using banned nets that endanger dolphins. For seven years, Mahaldar has worked as a Dolphin Mitra [Friend of Dolphin] for nine months each year and pauses for the remaining three.
When Guardians Break Their Own Rules
A total of 31 Dolphin Mitras work in groups of three to four. They carry out regular patrolling. In case there is any illegal activity or fishing nets, they file a detailed report. And the forest department takes action. “Over 20 such cases were registered last year,” Shweta Kumari, Divisional Forest Officer of Bhagalpur, says.
“Mosquito nets for fishing are strictly banned,” says Kumari. “But, we allow fishing, only to the extent that it doesn’t affect the dolphins.”
When we walked around the Ganga Bank in the Barari area, which falls under the protected Dolphin sanctuary. We found fishing nets spread all around the riverbank. Mahaldar asked us not to photograph the nets. Later, another local shared images of Dolphin Mitras involved in a fishing activity.
“The real crooks are the Dolphin Mitras,” he told us on the condition of anonymity. “Illegal fishing still happens at night, and they are all aware of it. This is a violation of fishing norms in the protected sanctuary area.”
The population of Gangetic river dolphins in the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary has shown notable fluctuations over recent years.
Engineering Failures, Ecological Fallout Follows
A survey conducted in December 2017 by the Vikramshila Biodiversity Research and Education Centre (VBREC), in collaboration with the Ashoka Trust for Research on Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, reported a decline in the dolphin population to 154 from 207 in 2015.
By 2018, the population rebounded to 171. In a 2022 survey by the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), the dolphin population increased to 208, returning to the 2015 level.
However, Bhagalpur District Magistrate Dr. Nawal Kishor Choudhary says, “Their numbers [Dolphins] have increased…You can now see more Gangetic Dolphins in Barari, Sultanganj, and Kahalgaon area,” Choudhary says. “There’s no poaching happening here of these dolphins.” Though he didn’t share any data even after our repeated requests.
The District Forest Officer has noted that the population has stabilised in recent years, contrary to the DM’s statement.
Apart from affecting the dolphins, the debris from the repeatedly collapsing bridge has changed the river’s course. DM Choudhary said that it has shifted its route toward Naugachia in Bhagalpur, and authorities are working to revert the flow to the original route.
River ecologist Subhasis Dey says this is because of the Bhagalpur bridge and the siltation process.
With the debris in the water for the dolphins, it’s like walking through a minefield blindfolded. Their echolocation [emitting sound waves to interpret surroundings] bounces off the debris in confusing ways, confusing them.
The reconstruction started in June 2025 to meet the 18-month deadline of December 2026. The bridge builders, SP Singla Construction Pvt. Limited for Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited has missed several deadlines.
In June 2024, Union Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Jitan Ram Manjhi, had stated, “A probe should be conducted to identify where the lapses occurred that have led to not just one, but several collapses. Those responsible must be held accountable. Why are so many bridges collapsing?”
These collapses aren’t just engineering failures; they’re making life difficult for a species that’s already under intense pressure.
The second part will detail the bridge, its construction, and the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.
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