In UP's Mirzapur, Newly Built Road Came With A Free Hand Pump In The Middle

In a bizarre case of oversight, workers building a road in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur did not remove a hand pump before pouring asphalt and paving the road surface. The result: a functional hand pump in the middle of the road that could prove to be a major accident risk.

The road leads to the Vindhyachal Temple, which attracts a huge number of pilgrims during Navaratri. A hand pump jutting out of the middle of the road could lead to accidents and injuries, especially when the road sees heavy footfall during the festival.

Soon after the road was constructed on the state Public Works Department's (PWD) orders, residents of the area started making videos and uploading them online to draw attention to the matter.

Ashish Kumar Yadav, a resident of the area, said the hand pump could cause road accidents. "This is dangerous. They should shift it to the roadside. We have no clue how they did not think of this," he said.

PWD officials initially tried shifting blame to the local civic body, local residents said. But when the matter gained traction online, the officials sent workers to remove the hand pump.

Visuals show a group of workers removing the hand pump from the middle of the road.

State Minister Nand Gopal Gupta, who was recently in Mirzapur, was asked about this oversight, but he did not respond.

Earlier, a viral video from Himachal Pradesh showed electric poles in the middle of a newly constructed road. The road connects Badripur, Kishanpura, Santokhgarh and Puruwala of Sirmaur district.

Former power minister and BJP MLA Sukhram Chaudhary said the electric line is two decades old, when the road was narrow. But when it was widened, nobody considered dismantling the power lines.