LUCKNOW: Four people had a providential escape when the SUV they were travelling in plunged into a pit as one of the service lanes on Lucknow-Agra Expressway had caved in near Kannauj, around 16 km from Agra, on early Wednesday morning following a week-long incessant rains.
While all the four occupants were rescued, the brand new SUV was taken out with the help of crane. As per the police sources, though the driver of the SUV applied brakes he could not stop the vehicle from slipping into the ditch near Wazidpur Pulia along the expressway.
The sources said that the SUV was coming from Mumbai and the occupants were tracing the path through Google map. Suddenly they lost the track and took to service lane which had caved in near Kannauj following heavy rains. However, the state government ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The probe would be conducted by railways consultancy firm RITES Limited and the report would be submitted within 15 days. "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. He added that all the agencies were directed to take precautionary measures after heavy rains in the state.
Constructed by UPEIDA in a record time of 23 months, the 302-km Agra-Lucknow Expressway worth Rs 1500 crore - an ambitious project of the Samajwadi Party government - was inaugurated by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on November 21, 2016. 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 an emergency. According to reports, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway has witnessed a staggering 688 accidents in less than a year, between August 2017 and February 2018, killing 90 commuters.