MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday ruled out road construction on the Samruddhi-Mahamarg Expressway as the cause of the accident in Buldhana district in which 25 passengers of a private bus died after the vehicle caught fire. Talking to reporters here, the Deputy Chief Minister said that he will accompany Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to the accident site in Buldhana on Saturday and will meet with the injured in hospital. “Road construction not the cause of bus accident on Samruddhi highway,” Fadnavis said. He said that the bodies of those who died in the mishap will be identified using DNA testing if required so that they can be handed over to their families. The driver, who survived the accident and is undergoing treatment at a hospital told police that the tyre of the bus burst at around 1:35 am and hit a pole on the expressway which caused it to overturn.

 

The police said that this caused damage to the diesel tank of the bus, which caught fire. However, the exact reason for the accident has not yet been ascertained. “The bus driver and conductor have been taken into custody by police,” said Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan. The bus owner, Virendra Darna, also said that the tyre burst caused the accident. “We bought the bus in the year 2020. The bus driver Danish was experienced in driving. We have got information that the bus hit the road divider after the tyre burst. Due to the presence of flammable items in the bus, the bus caught fire,” Darna said. A survivor of the accident Yogesh Ramdas Gavai recounted the experience of escaping the burning vehicle said, “I boarded the Vidarbha Travels bus from Nagpur for Aurangabad.

 

The bus overturned and caught fire immediately after it met with an accident on the Samruddhi Mahamarg Expressway. Three to four people broke the window and escaped, soon after there was a blast in the bus.” Bus involved in accident was less than 4 years old: Official: THE private passenger bus that met with an accident was less than four years old, an official of the State transport department said. “As per the records, the sleeper coach bus was registered three years and five months back. Records are being checked if the bus had a valid fitness certificate, insurance, permit and other documents,” Patil added. Sources said the bus was registered on January 24, 2020. Its fitness certificate bus is valid till March 10, 2024, permit till December 22, 2025 and insurance till October 26, 2023. However, the pollution under control (PUC) of the bus expired on March 10, 2023. A senior transport department official said the reason behind the accident could be momentary loss of concentration on the part of the bus driver, due to which the bus directly hit a pole at a high speed before falling on its right side. The impact of hitting the pole was so severe that the front axle of the vehicle was broken, he said. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal offered his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in a tragic bus accident in Maharashtra’s Buldhana.