Reality Check: Commuters on Bundelkhand E-way worried over missing sign boards, stray animals

Again a picture of mismanagement & carelessness of the construction companies has come to light while the ETV Bharat team went on a reality check of the freeway.

Banda: It has not been more than two weeks since a part of the newly constructed Bundelkhand Expressway caved in on 20th July, just five days after it was inaugurated, leading to a collision of at least six cars and one motorcycle. Again a picture of mismanagement & carelessness of the construction companies has come to light while the ETV Bharat team went on a reality check of the freeway.

The ETV Bharat team found that construction works were going on at some specific points without any barricading or alert lights. A small tin-shade like structure was raised on one side of the expressway probably by the workers, as a safety helmet, paintbrushes, and measuring tapes were lying along with some debris kind of material. Apart from that, some stray animals also were seen roaming around freely and making the e-way extremely dangerous, specially for the vehicles moving at high speed.

ETV correspondent interacted with some commuters who expressed their discomfort and said "Commuting at night gets very difficult and risky as it's difficult to identify ongoing construction work as there are no radium lights that can make the driver alert." Commuters also complained about the missing sign boards at some exit points creating confusion for the commuters.

Some people expressed that the government should not have opened the Expressway until it's fully completed. "Looking at the ongoing work at the E-way, it seems that they should have opened after two or three months after it is fully completed," said another commuter.

The 296-km-long Bundelkhand Expressway was inaugurated on 16 July by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it was built at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore in a record time of 28 months. The four-lane expressway connects Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot with Etawah in UP.