DNA:
Gautam Budhdha Nagar: Tuesday, 28 July 2015.
With 319
deaths in three years, the 165-km long Yamuna Expressway is now being described
as the deadliest road in the country.
Yamuna
Expressway, built as a symbol of modern development connecting the Industrial
hub Noida with the city of Taj, Agra, witnessed as many as 2,194 accidents
between August 2012 and April 2015. That means the expressway have had two
accidents every day in 1000 days.
The startling
revelations came in response to an RTI application filed by advocate AN
Srivastava of Agra. The Yamuna Expressway authority has revealed the figures.
While last
year saw 771 accidents on the expressway, this year it has already witnessed about
252 accidents in just a span of four months, i.e. between January 1 and April
30.
Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated the highway in August 2012,
which was built at a cost of Rs12, 000 crore.
Terming the
figures, ‘alarming’, KC Jain, Secretary of Agra development foundation, said,
“People continue to die and the expressway authority continues to overlook the
speed menace. We have filed PIL in Allahabad High court which directed that the
matter be referred to a high-level expert committee constituted by the state
government.”
Rakesh Garg,
ADF joint secretary, said most of the vehicles involved in accidents were found
to be running above the permissible limit of 100 kmph, as there is no provision
to penalise for over-speeding.