Mumbai: At least 25 people were killed in Maharashtra’s Buldhana in the early hours of Saturday when a bus they were travelling in overturned and caught fire on the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, according to media reports.
The accident occurred when the bus travelling from Nagpur to Pune overturned on Samruddhi Mahamarg after one its tyres burst, news agency ANI said quoting the police. The diesel tank of the bus eventually caught fire.
Three children were among those killed while eight others, including the driver, were left wounded in the accident. They are currently at the Buldhana civil hospital undergoing treatment.
Known to be Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s pet project, the Samruddhi Mahamarg is a 701 km-long highway — the state’s longest. The first phase of the project — a 520-km stretch between Nagpur and Shirdi — was inaugurated in December 2022, while the second phase was opened to the public in May.
The final 100-km phase is scheduled to be inaugurated later this year, according to media reports.
This isn’t an isolated case of mishap on the Samruddhi Mahamarg. According to a report by News18, 358 accidents have taken place on the highway between December 2022 — when it was inaugurated — and April 2023. A total of 39 people were killed in these accidents, while 143 were critically injured and 236 people received minor injuries, said the report, quoting government data.
As opposition parties demanded accountability for yet another accident on the newly-inaugurated highway, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who had announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of those who died in Saturday’s mishap, blamed “human error and drivers’ negligence” for the rising number of accidents.
“Twenty-five people died in the (latest) accident while eight of those who were wounded are being treated. What onlookers and witnesses say is that the bus hit a pole due to which its diesel tank exploded, causing the fire. (They say) people could not be saved because the door of the bus was blocked and people could not get out,” he told reporters, adding that his government will ensure such accidents are prevented in the future.
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Opposition demands accountability
Meanwhile, reactions poured in from across the country over the accident, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi voicing their condolences.
The Opposition, meanwhile, targeted the government for the rising number of accidents on the highway.
Reacting to the accident, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar voiced concerns on reports of speeding on the highway.
“The state government should take serious note of this and immediate measures should be taken. I had already expressed concerns a week ago after getting the statistics on the number of accidents on Samruddhi Mahamarg,” he said in his tweet.
बुलढाणा जिल्ह्यातील सिंदखेडराजा पिंपळखुटा भागात समृध्दी महामार्गावर लक्झरी बस उलटून भीषण अपघात झाल्याची घटना अत्यंत दुर्दैवी आहे. या अपघातात 25 प्रवाशांचा आगीत होरपळून मृत्यू झाला. मृतांना भावपूर्ण श्रद्धांजली. अपघातातील जखमींवर लवकरात लवकर उपचार होऊन ते बरे व्हावेत ही प्रार्थना.…
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) July 1, 2023
Sanjay Raut, an MP from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) — a rival faction to Shinde’s Sena — questioned the manner in which the state government was getting highway projects executed.
“It has become a cursed expressway,” he told reporters. “It is very unfortunate that accidents are occurring every now and then on the expressway. Nobody has responded to our queries regarding the speed limit on that road. I believe it is born out of corruption.”
Calling the highway a “death trap” in a tweet, Maharashtra Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Balasaheb Thorat urged the government to take immediate measures to prevent such occurrences.
बुलढाणा जिल्ह्यातील सिंदखेड राजा येथे समृद्धी महामार्गावर अपघातानंतर पेट घेतलेल्या खासगी बसमधील २५ प्रवाशांचा मृत्यू झाल्याची घटना अत्यंत धक्कादायक आणि दु:खद आहे. या अपघातात मृत्यू पावलेल्या प्रवाशांना भावपूर्ण श्रद्धांजली!
जखमी प्रवाशी लवकरात लवकर पूर्णपणे बरे व्हावेत ही… pic.twitter.com/y0REGbNaRC— Balasaheb Thorat (@bb_thorat) July 1, 2023
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was reportedly most keen on the highway project, dismissed the Opposition’s concerns over the execution of the highway project and said an inquiry had been ordered into the incident.
Speaking to the media before heading off toward the accident site, Fadnavis said the police were recording the bus driver’s statement.
“We have so far observed that accidents occurred due to human error or vehicle error. So not really a road issue but we are still going to implement a smart system to alert vehicles about overspeeding,” he said, adding that drivers also need to be “sensitised”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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