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Lucknow: The Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, built at a cost of Rs 4200 crore, is bringing disgrace to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Even where the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway was repaired, the road again collapsed. After this, questions are bound to be raised regarding the work of construction agency PNC Infratech.

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Based on the feedback received from the engineers, senior officials of the ministry have claimed that the design of this expressway is of such poor quality that now the only option seems to be resurfacing of the road (new layer). However, a decision on this will be taken only after the investigation report of the expert committee comes out.

Poor design of Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway

The Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway was constructed by PNC Infratech, the family company of BJP MP Naveen Jain. It was inaugurated on 13 July 2026 and from the end of July itself, deficiencies in the road like potholes and subsidence started coming to light.

When the number of flaws came to light, NHAI took action on August 5. Action was taken against former and present project directors, independent engineers etc. of NHAI including notice declaring the company a non-performer, ban on toll collection. Also, an expert committee was formed for investigation under the chairmanship of Professor KS Reddy of IIT Kharagpur. The committee continued to investigate and repair work continued on the expressway to ensure smooth movement of vehicles.

Read :- Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway worth Rs 4,200 crore, caved in five times in 20 days

Re-surfacing is the only option

In this regard, a senior official of the ministry says that the matter of Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway is very serious. Due to this, questions have been raised on the quality of highway construction. However, he claimed that the material used in road construction has been thoroughly examined. Not the slightest flaw has been found in it.

Yes, the design of this expressway is so bad that due to it water kept seeping in and the road kept sinking. Will patchwork improve the situation? On this question, the senior officer said that patchwork will not help anything.

Final decision after report

In this case, the report of the engineers so far says that it will have to be re-surfacing, that is, the road will have to be uprooted and a new layer will have to be applied along with improving the drainage design. However, the official said that the final decision will be taken after the expert committee's report comes out.

Read:- Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway built for Rs 4,200 crore collapsed within 12 days, Congress shared the video and said – this is BJP's 'corruption model'

He expressed hope that the report will come out in two-three days. It is noteworthy that the deficiency in the design directly means that there were irregularities in the DPR and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari expresses concern every day that the DPR is being made very poorly, due to which the highways are built in bad condition and accidents also occur.

Till now patchwork has been done at 148 places

So far, patchwork has been done at 148 places on both lanes in the 45 km stretch of greenfield on the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, built by spending about Rs 4200 crore. Of these, the road has sunk more at 56 places, where construction agency PNC has installed long patches ranging from 200 meters to one and a half kilometres. PNC Manager VS Kundu said that the problem is due to rain.

Will patchwork improve the situation?

On this question, the senior officer said that patchwork will not help anything. In this case, the report of the engineers so far says that it will have to be resurfaced, that is, the road will have to be uprooted and a new layer will have to be applied by improving the drainage design. However, the officer expressed hope that the report would come out in two-three days. It is noteworthy that the deficiency in the design directly means that there was a mistake in the DPR.

Read :- Video- Minister got angry on the question of breakage of Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway before inauguration, said – You build the road yourself…