Agra
In a close shave, a car carrying four passengers fell after a portion of Agra-Lucknow expressway caved-in today. According to reports, about 16 kms of service lane from Agra caved-in this morning. The road probably caved in due to heavy rains and accumulation of water on the stretch, according to reports. However, no one was injured as passengers travelling in an SUV plunged 15-20 feet. Uttar Pradesh has seen incessant rains even as fourteen people were killed and seven others injured in rain-related incidents in different parts of the state in the last 24 hours, according to reports.
“A third-party probe has been ordered into the caving-in of the side road of the expressway (16 km from Agra towards Lucknow) by RITES Limited. The construction of the damaged road will be done by the construction agency at its cost,” Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) Chairman Avanish Awasthi said. Awasthi said that all the agencies involved in the construction of the expressway have been asked to keep an eye on the situation and ensure proper drainage arrangements. The UP government asked railways consultancy firm RITES Limited to complete the probe within 15 days.
The 302-km long expressway, which costs nearly Rs 15,000 crore, was completed in record time of 23 months. It was inaugurated in November 2016, by the erstwhile Samajwadi Party (SP) government months ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. It is the country’s longest access-controlled greenfield expressway on which the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters jets can land and take-off in case of a war-like emergency. During the launch of the road, six fighter jets of the IAF made a touchdown on Agra-Lucknow Expressway. There are four rail over bridges, nine flyovers, thirteen major bridges, fifty seven minor bridges, seventy-four vehicular underpasses and one hundred forty-eight pedestrian underpasses on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.
