Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh was responsible for the death of 18 people in the accident on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.
Yadav questioned the safety measures on the expressway and said the incident should be investigated.
Officials reported that 18 people died and 19 were injured early Wednesday when a double-decker sleeper bus collided with a milk tanker on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao district. The bus was travelling to Delhi from Motihari in Bihar.
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He said in a post on X, “The reason for the death of 18 people in the accident on Lucknow-Agra Expressway is the negligence of the BJP government. It is a matter of investigation that despite there being a dedicated parking zone on the expressway, why was a vehicle parked in the middle of the road? How did the monitoring of the parked vehicle go wrong despite the presence of CCTV cameras? Were the CCTV cameras not working?”
“Where was the highway police, was regular patrolling not being done? How long did the Highway Ambulance Service take to arrive after the accident and what was its role in relation to the casualties?”
{{/usCountry}}“Where was the highway police, was regular patrolling not being done? How long did the Highway Ambulance Service take to arrive after the accident and what was its role in relation to the casualties?”
{{/usCountry}}“Crores of rupees are spent every day on the expressway. Instead of being spent on the management and administration of the expressway, is that money going somewhere else? The BJP government should answer these questions systematically,” he further questioned.
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The Agra-Lucknow Expressway was built when Yadav was the chief minister during the Samajwadi Party's rule, PTI reported.
Contrary to Yadav's claim that the accident was caused by a parked vehicle, Unnao District Magistrate Gaurang Rathi said it appeared that the bus was speeding and hit the milk tanker from behind, causing the deaths of 18 people.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati expressed her condolences for the loss of lives in the accident. “My heartfelt condolences. Measures must be taken to prevent such accidents and save lives,” she said on X in Hindi.