Auraiya/Aligarh: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday directed officials to implement an action plan and road safety action plan with inter-departmental coordination to prevent accidents. Yogi Adityanath also called on people to obey traffic rules. He stressed that accidents, especially those caused by winter fog, must be checked.
Adityanath’s directive came after five people were killed and 33 others were injured by thick fog on the Agra-Lucknow highway in Auraiya district and the national road in Aligarh.
In Auraiya, three people were killed and nine were injured when a Lucknow-bound bus collided with a truck on the Lucknow-Agra highway, police said. Some other vehicles were also affected by the fog. In Aligarh, two people were killed and 24 others were injured in an accident on National Highway 91 due to heavy fog, police added. More than a dozen vehicles, including a police patrol car, were damaged in the ensuing crash.
According to a statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow, Adityanath said the likelihood of road accidents has increased due to the onset of winter fog. Therefore, everyone should obey the traffic rules and travel safely. Adityanath also directed officials to carry out extensive public awareness programs on road safety.
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party (SP) chairman Akhilesh Yadav accused the state’s BJP government of neglecting “the best highways”.
“The best Agra-Lucknow highway in the country is a victim of neglect by the BJP government, the danger of accidents in dense fog. The government should make proper arrangements for the safety of the highway…” Yadav said in said in a Hindi tweet. He also called on people to provide all possible help to accident victims in their area.
