Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
With accidents becoming the order of the day on the Lucknow Agra Expressway, the Yogi Adityanath government has hit upon a new idea to check speeding on the expressway.
The state government has announced that those covering the 302 km-stretch from Lucknow toll plaza to Agra in less than three hours will have to pay a fine for speeding.
Avanish Kumar Awasthi, chief executive officer, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) said that a total of 25 e-challans have already been issued to vehicles that were found to be over speeding on the expressway over the past two days.
"If any vehicle is found to have covered the distance between Agra and Lucknow or vice versa in less than three hours, it will be fined and an e-challan will be sent to the registered address of the vehicle owner," he explained.
He said that high-tech equipments have been installed at the toll plazas in order to capture images of vehicles for data analysis reports. The details are then sent to Superintendent of Police (Traffic), of Agra and Lucknow districts for issuance of e-challans.
Accidents on the expressway have risen alarmingly.
On June 28, seven people were killed when a bus rammed into a truck near Fatehabad. On June 21, three more lives were lost when a car rammed into a stationary truck near Mainpuri. Another life was claimed when a Lucknow-based businessman was killed on June 27 in an accident near Ferozabad on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.
Surprisingly there is no trauma center or medical facility along the 302 km long expressway which makes it even more difficult for accident victims to get medical aid.
Avanish Awasthi said: "We are building utilities along the Expressway and very soon medical facilities will be available along the route."
Meanwhile, a transport official said that apart from speeding, the increase in heat wave conditions was causing tyre bursts which leads to accidents.
"Majority of the accidents on the expressway -- Lucknow-Agra -- as well as the Yamuna Expressway (or the Taj Expressway) -- have been caused with SUVs ramming into stationary trucks. This is caused by tyre bursts as the cement laying on the Yamuna Expressway causes heating up of tyres. The Agra Expressway is laid with tarmac and is comparatively safer," the official explained.
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