A driver died and as many as 12 migrant labourers sustained injuries in a bus-LPG tanker collision on the National Highway-55 at Luhamunda in Angul district on Wednesday.
The driver of the tanker died at the spot. The bus carrying 26 migrant labourers was on its way to West Bengal from Mumbai when it met with the mishap.
The injured labourers were rescued and admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital by social activists, local officials and crisis manager Ranjeet Pattanaik. Cooked food and shelter was also provided to the victims.
However there is widespread resentment among people due to spiraling accidents and the resultant casualties for on the NH 55. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is carrying out expansion work of 153 Km stretch of the highway from Angul to Sambalpur at an estimated cost of Rs 1,225 crore. Gayatri Construction Company is the executing agency of the expansion work. .
"The expansion work was scheduled to complete by March 3, 2017. But due to the sheer negligence of the NHAI and Gayatri Construction, the work is yet to be completed,” alleged Pattanaik.
Accidents have increased as the executing agency has failed to properly maintain the road. In 2019, 423 accidents have occurred on this road, in which 222 people have died and 219 were seriously injured.