A portion of service lane of the 302 km long Lucknow-Agra Expressway caved in causing a SUV carrying four passengers to fall into a 20-feet ditch in Dauki near Agra on Wednesday.

Heavy rain had caused a portion of the road to cave in.

The four passengers were on a road trip from Mumbai to their home in Kanauj after one of the men bought the second hand car in Mumbai. The driver did not have idea of the route before the incident occurred. They managed to escape unhurt and were rescued by locals.

The State Government called for a probe asking Railways consultancy firm RITES Limited to find out why the road caved in and submit a report within 15 days.

Confirming the Government stand, UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) chairman Avneesh Awasthi said, “A third-party probe has been ordered into the caving-in of the side road of the Expressway (16 km from Agra towards Lucknow) by RITES Limited. The construction of the damaged road will be done by the construction agency at its cost.”

Awasthi said that all agencies involved in the construction of Expressway have been asked to keep an eye on the situation and ensure proper drainage. The 302-km long Expressway, a dream project of former Chief MinisterAkhilesh

Yadav, cost nearly Rs 15,000 crore and was completedin a record time of 23 months. It was inaugurated in November, 2016, months ahead of 2017 Assembly poll.

It is the country’s longest access-controlled greenfield expressway on which Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter’s jets can land and take-off in case of a war-like emergency.

Part of Lucknow-Agra E-way caves in