AGRA: A reply to a recent RTI query has revealed that 30% more accidents took place on the Yamuna Expressway in 2016 as compared to the previous year. However, fatalities have gone down by 9% during the same period.In 1,193 accidents, 128 persons lost their lives in 2016, while 919 accidents in 2015 resulted in deaths of 142 persons.During the four-and-half years since its opening, the expressway has seen the deaths of 548 people in 4,076 accidents, with 2016 reporting the highest number of accidents in a year.In 2014, 127 people died in 772 accidents, while it was 118 deaths in 898 accidents in 2013. Between August 9, 2012, when the e-way became operational, and December 31 of that year, as many as 33 people died in 294 accidents.K C Jain, secretary of NGO Agra Development Foundation, who filed the RTI query, said, "Built at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore, there is no slowdown in numbers of accidents and deaths on the e-way. It is a serious cause of concern and the government should take corrective measures.""In 2015, the ADF had filed a public interest litigation over rising accidents on the 165-km long e-way connecting Noida to Agra in the Allahabad high court. Consequently, the court directed the organization to give its suggestions to the state's high-level committee on road safety on measures to reduce accidents. We suggested several remedial measures to curb the menace of speeding and tyre burst, the two major cause of accidents, to the committee. But no strong measures were taken. Instead, more accidents took place in 2016 as compared to 2015," added Jain.The ADF secretary alleged that the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority has been lax in its duty. "More than 50% of vehicles do not follow the speed limit norms and drive at a very high speed. There are display boards at toll plazas where registration numbers of violators are flashed. Despite that, no action is being taken against them. The YEIDA and the police have left the issue of accidents to the private concessionaire and not taking any stringent step themselves," Jain said.ADF members said they would be forced to approach the HC and seek stringent action against the authorities if they do not comply with the remedial measures suggested by the organization as well as the Central Road Research Institute.Citing another RTI reply, Jain said in comparison to more than 62.7 lakh vehicles which passed through Jewar toll plaza in 2015, challans for over speeding were issued to 8,156 vehicles. In other words, only 13 per 10,000 vehicles were found to be violating the speeding norms. "This just shows lackadaisical approach of agencies in dealing with the situation," Jain alleged.

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