A service lane on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway caved on Wednesday morning, causing a near-fatal accident for occupants of an SUV. The expressway is one which Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters jets can use in case of emergency. The government said that waterlogging caused Wednesday’s incident and that a probe has been ordered. Rachit Kumar, Rashid, Mohammad Shanu and Abdul Hussain were heading to Kannauj from Mumbai. At around 5.45 am, the vehicle lost its way and entered the service lane. “A stretch of the road had already caved-in. As soon as they realised this, they applied the brakes. Soon, however, the road they brought the vehicle to a stop also gave in and it fell. Hearing screams, some people nearby rushed to their rescue and helped them out,” said Dauki police station officer (SO) Nitin Dasana. “A crane was later called in to remove the vehicle. During the recovery option, the crane’s cable snapped an the vehicle fell about 30 to 35 feet into the ditch.” None of the occupants could be reached for comment. They later resumed their journey once the vehicle was pulled out. According to the government, they were aware of the cave-in. According to officials of the Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), around 15-20 metres stretch of the service lane had caved-in due to waterlogging. “On any road, there are always some pluses and minuses, but the point is that water-logging caused the incident. We had asked PNC Infratech, the company that constructed the road, to repair it as they are responsible for the maintenance of the road for five years,” said Awanish Awasthi, CEO, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). He said they have asked a third party agency— RITES Limited — to probe the matter and submit their report within 15 days. SP, BJP blame each other for mess The SP and BJP blamed each other for Wednesday’s accident. The 302-km expressway was inaugurated months before the 2017 UP elections by the then SP government. “The Samajwadi Party government always beat the drum of this Expressway and now it is being exposed with road caving in and vehicles falling. With every new foundation stone by us, they beat their chest and claim that they did the work and BJP is taking the credit. Now, they (SP) should beat their chest on this too and tell the people that now these are their black deeds. They should have that much courage,” said government spokesperson and cabinet Minister, Srikant Sharma. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told The Indian Express that BJP was negligent. “The BJP government is in power for last 16 months and the maintenance of expressway is their responsibility. There was some problem in the service lane and water-logging was there. These people cannot run away from their responsibility. We are not in the government,” Chaudhary said.
