Buldhana tragedy: Smart system being installed on Samruddhi Mahamarg to prevent mishaps, says Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the bodies of the accident victims in the Buldhana mishap were charred beyond recognition. The state government has also an inquiry into the horrific tragedy.

Mumbai/Nagpur (Maharashtra): After opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) raised concerns about safety on the Samruddhi Mahamarg following a horrendous bus accident, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that a smart system is being installed on the Samruddhi Expressway to prevent mishaps.

The remarks by Fadnavis came after 25 people including three children were charred to death after a private bus carrying 33 passengers caught fire early this morning on the Samruddhi Mahamarg in the Buldhana district of the state. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his condolences for the victims and their families and also announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakhs for the kin of the deceased.

"The smart system will check the speed of vehicles and alert them. But it will take some time. Till then, we will have to create awareness among drivers at the toll booths on what precautions need to be taken to prevent accidents at night," Fadnavis told reporters.

The Deputy Chief Minister also said that the bodies of the accident victims were charred beyond recognition. "They would be handed over to the families after the identity is established. But in case the identity is not established by any other means, then a DNA test will have to be done," Fadnavis added.

Fadnavis also said that the state government has ordered an inquiry into the mishap and the surviving bus driver would also be interrogated by the police. He said he along with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were on their way to the accident spot.

Fadnavis also brushed aside criticism about the poor quality of the construction of the Samruddhi expressway. "Only vehicle error and human error have been noticed in the accidents that occurred on the Samruddhi Expressway so far," he said.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, who is a Member of Parliament from Baramati, had raised the issue of control of the speed of private vehicles and urged the Maharashtra government to look into it. NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra, had blamed faulty construction of the Samruddhi Highway for the mishaps.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 520-km-long Phase-1 of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg in December 2022. Officially named as 'Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg', it is a pet project of Fadnavis.