Dausa, July 7 (IANS) Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is scheduled to inspect the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Wednesday, days after a devastating bus-trailer collision and fire in Rajasthan’s Dausa district claimed eight lives and left 28 others injured.

According to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, Gadkari will travel by road from Delhi and proceed towards Kota-Ratlam through the expressway.

He is expected to pass through Dausa district at around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, where he may visit the site of the fire incident.

During the inspection, the Minister is likely to review the condition and maintenance of the expressway, ongoing construction work, safety measures, and arrangements at the Dara Tunnel in Mukundara Hills, Kota. The inspection will also extend to sections of the expressway in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Following the announcement of Gadkari’s visit, NHAI officials and other concerned departments have begun preparations along the expressway. Authorities are reviewing safety arrangements and other facilities ahead of the Minister’s inspection.

The proposed visit comes after the deadly bus-trailer collision and fire incident in Dausa, which claimed eight lives and raised concerns over highway safety, vehicle movement, and emergency response systems on the expressway. Eight people, most of them from Madhya Pradesh, were killed, and 28 were injured after a private sleeper bus rear-ended a multi-axle trailer truck in the early hours of July 1.

The collision triggered a devastating blaze in which six passengers were burnt alive and charred beyond recognition, while two others died later of severe head injuries.

The accident, according to a police technical report, unfolded around 2.50 a.m. when the air-conditioned sleeper coach travelling from Haridwar to Indore with 36 passengers on board collided with a truck coming in the same direction. The impact was followed by what survivors described as a loud explosion, with fire engulfing the bus within moments and leaving passengers scrambling to escape through thick smoke and intense heat.

–IANS

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