Two injured as road caves in outside ex-UP deputy CM Dinesh Sharma’s Lucknow home

Two people were injured after a section of Lucknow University Road outside the residence of former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma caved in on Wednesday, officials said.

The two, who were riding a scooter, fell into a hole several feet deep.

"My brothers were coming from the Kaiserbagh side when their bike fell into the caved-in section. Both of them were admitted to a hospital," Abhay Prajapati said.

Police and Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) officials cordoned off the affected stretch following the incident.

Preliminary assessments suggested that the cave-in may have been caused by an underground pipeline leak or seepage from a drain, which could have eroded the soil beneath the road.

A similar incident was reported in Kanpur's Harsh Nagar area after heavy rain on Tuesday, where a covered drain caved in and left a crater nearly 10 feet deep and 25 feet long.

The drain on the Brahm Nagar-Eidgah road had first sunk about a week ago. The latest cave-in triggered panic among residents and prompted the Jal-Kal department to put up barricades around the crater.

Repair work by the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has been underway since last week.

"Due to the rain, the soil remained wet, and workers could not enter the pit during the day. Iron shuttering work was started in the evening," said Ravi Pratap Singh, assistant engineer with the Jal-Kal department.

Officials are assessing the damaged stretches and carrying out repair work in both cities.