UP authority blames advanced traffic management system contractor for Purvanchal Expressway cave-in

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Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has issued a show cause notice to a Gurgaon-based contractor that was implementing an advanced traffic management system (ATMS) on the part of the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur district which caved in last week, top executive of the state-run entity told Moneycontrol.

Chief Executive Officer of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) Arvind Kumar said that there is no investigation being done on the contractor that built the particular stretch of the expressway– Apco Infratech. He said that the road caved in due to lapses on the part of the ATMS contractor; he declined to name the company.

“It is clear what has happened. The company to which the work to implement the ATMS was awarded, they were digging up for laying cable. They dug a hole that went across the site on expressway; this hole was not plugged. After the rains, the hole widened and the soil was drained out,” Kumar said.

“It was a clear lapse on the part of the ATMS contractor, there was no problem with the construction of the road,” Kumar said.

The 341-km Purvanchal Expressway, one of the most ambitious projects of the Uttar Pradesh government, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi less than a year ago in November 2021.

According to media reports, four persons traveling on the expressway were injured after their car fell into a crater created by the caving in of a portion of the road following rain on October 6.

A senior official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told Moneycontrol that it is looking into the collapse of the expressway. “The NHAI will launch a probe to find the reason behind the Purvanchal Expressway’s collapse and if it is found that the developers did not adhere to quality standards, strict action will be taken against the developers. Initial estimates suggest that the expressway caved due to weakness in the section of the road.”

The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) developed the Rs 22,500-crore Purvanchal Expressway with the aim to connect Lucknow with Ghazipur to improve transportation facilities and trade and commerce between East UP and Bihar. The state agency had divided the project into eight packages which were awarded to contractors.

Kumar of UPEIDA said that soon after the incident was reported, traffic was diverted and the damaged portion was repaired.

This is the second such incident in four months in Uttar Pradesh. In July, a portion of the Bundelkhand Expressway reported severe damage within a week of its inauguration.

Both the Bundelkhand Expressway and Purvanchal Expressway have been projected as the “dream projects” of state’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The two incidents have brought the quality of construction under the scanner.

Kumar denied there is a cause of concern over the quality of roads and expressways being built in the state. “This did not happen because of construction quality but because of other reasons, specifically I can say this about the Purvanchal Expressway incident,” he said.