A week after Bundelkhand expressway was inaugurated was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a portion of the 296-km-long stretch of road developed deep potholes due to heavy rains. "The portion of the road developed one-and-a-half-foot-deep potholes due to rains at Chiriya Salempur in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district on Wednesday night," said UP Expressway Industrial Authority spokesperson Durgesh Upadhyay, according to news agency PTI.
As soon as the potholes were spotted, a team with bulldozers and necessary equipment repaired the stretch and opened it for traffic, the spokesperson added.
The opposition, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress were quick to latch on the opportunity to criticise the government.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav took to his twitter handle and shared a video that showed parts of the highway caved in almost one-and-a-half-foot-deep.
In a Hindi tweet he said, "This is a sample of the quality of the BJP’s half-finished development. The Bundelkhand expressway was inaugurated by big people and within a week huge pits of corruption came out on it. It is good that the runway was not built on it."
"The caving-in of the Bundelkhand expressway just days after its inauguration proves corruption of the double engine BJP government in the construction of the road. The CM should apologise for endangering lives of people by inaugurating half-finished Bundelkhand expressway,” Akhilesh Yadav added and also tagged a video.
The UP Congress also hit out at the BJP government on Twitter, saying the government had promised pothole-free roads.
The foundation stone of the expressway was laid by PM Modi on February 29, 2020 and inaugurated it on July 16. The expressway was built in about 28 months.