Uttar Pradesh: Road caves in on Agra-Lucknow Expressway; 4 rescued

Lucknow, Aug 1: A car carrying four passengers fell off the Agra-Lucknow expressway as a portion of service lane caved in on Wednesday, after heavy rains and accumulation of water on the stretch.

A car that was carrying four people fell in the hollow and got stuck inside along with the people.

The people have however been rescued but the car got badly damaged. The car was bought from Mumbai and was being taken to Kannauj.

"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.

The UP government asked railways consultancy firm RITES Limited to complete the probe within 15 days.

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 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.

For more Lucknow news, Click Here