Fatal accidents increasing on Agra-Lucknow Expressway
Agra, May 20: Speed craze without discipline is proving a major killer on Uttar Pradesh's two expressways. While the Yamuna Expressway has taken nearly a thousand lives since 2012, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway has recorded over 100 deaths.
With nearly seven lakh vehicles using the new Agra-Lucknow Expressway, reducing travel time to just five hours, the authorities have failed to come up with a fool-proof mechanism to check speeding.
According to an RTI filed by K.C. Jain, Secretary of the Agra Development Foundation, "in nine months, there were 853 accidents and 100 deaths".
It is estimated that within a year, one crore vehicles will start using the expressway, remitting Rs 200 crore as toll tax.
The 302-km Agra-Lucknow Expressway, a project of the Akhilesh Yadav government, was opened on December 23, 2016. Toll tax was imposed from January 19, 2018.
While the Expressway is becoming popular, the departments concerned have not yet provided policing or ambulance facilities.
"Petrol pump, car mechanics or puncture shops are non-existent. It is one long desolate grey strip through a never ending wasteland," said a frequent user of the expressway, Sudhier Gupta.
Originally the Agra-Lucknow Expressway was designed for a maximum speed of 120 km per hour with automatic traffic management systems aimed at reducing road accidents.
The six-lane expressway, expandable to eight lanes, includes four rail over bridges, 13 major bridges, 57 minor bridges, 74 vehicular underpasses, 148 pedestrian underpasses and nine flyovers.
The road was built in a record time of 23 months at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore. The expressway spans 10 districts, 236 villages and 3,500 hectares of land.
It connects Agra and Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Unnao and Hardoi. It passes through four National and two state highways and over five rivers (Ganga, Yamuna, Isan, Sai and Kalyani).
The state government had promised that the expressway would have a series of development centres, agricultural mandis, schools, ITIs, rest houses, petrol pumps, service centres and public amenities. But till date there has been no progress in this direction.
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Pak police registers case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on LeT co-founder
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Lahore (PTI): Pakistan's Punjab Police on Friday registered a case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder Amir Hamza, who suffered bullet injuries in the attack in Lahore.
On Thursday, two unidentified gunmen riding on a bike opened fire on the vehicle of the private TV channel 24NewsHD TV, owned by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, on Peco Road in Lahore near the TV channel's office.
In the attack, Hamza suffered bullet injuries.
"The FIR has been registered against unidentified gunmen, but it is sealed forthwith," a senior police officer told PTI.
He said the intelligence agencies have taken over this case from the police, and they are currently investigating the matter.
The channel's religious programme host Justice (retd.) Nazir Ahmed Ghazi and Hamza were in the vehicle when it was attacked. Hamza was shifted to a hospital for treatment.
Punjab police on Friday said that "upon receiving information about the incident, the SSP Operations immediately reached the scene and a high alert was imposed in the area. SSP Operations Tauqeer Naeem also met the affected individuals. Thankfully, all present in the vehicle remained safe during the firing."
It further said senior police officers of the Township and Chung, along with a heavy police contingent, were present at the scene.
"Police collected evidence from the site and initiated an investigation. Efforts to arrest the suspects are underway using CCTV footage and geo-fencing techniques. Search and sweep operations are being conducted at various locations, with scrutiny of suspicious individuals ongoing," police said.
It added that those involved in the incident will be traced and arrested soon.
The police sources said that Hamza has been shifted to his residence in Jauhar Town, Lahore, where police and agency personnel met him.
The leadership of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political front of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including Hafiz Saeed's son Hafiz Talha Saeed, also called on him.
TV host retired Justice Ghazi, who remained unhurt in the attack, remained a legal counsel for Hafiz Saeed, they said.
The PMML has strongly condemned the attack on Hamza and demanded that those involved in the incident be arrested immediately.
Hamza is regarded as LeT's second most important leader after its chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after getting convicted for several years in terror financing cases.
Hamza has been designated as a terrorist by the US. In the past, he served as the head of LeT's "special campaigns" department.
In 2018, Hamza formed a fundraising group for the LeT following a ban on the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation by the Pakistani government.
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