Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is set to inspect the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway by road, days after a deadly crash on the highway killed eight people and injured 28 others. According to National Highways Authority of India officials, Gadkari will travel from Delhi towards Kota and Ratlam through the expressway and is expected to pass through Dausa district at around 2 pm. He may also visit the site of the July 1 accident during the inspection.

The minister is expected to review the condition and maintenance of the expressway, ongoing construction work and safety measures along the corridor. His inspection will also cover arrangements at the Dara Tunnel in the Mukundara Hills near Kota and sections of the expressway in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. After passing through Dausa, Gadkari is expected to reach the tunnel project near Kota at around 5.30 pm, where he will assess construction progress and hold a meeting with NHAI and other officials.

The visit comes a week after a bus travelling from Haridwar to Indore crashed into the rear of a moving trailer truck near Dhanawda village, close to Zero Point in Dausa district, at around 2.30 am on July 1. The bus then plunged into a roadside gorge and caught fire, killing eight people and seriously injuring 28 others. The crash has renewed concerns over safety on the Dausa section of the expressway, where 33 accidents killed 35 people in 2025 and 24 crashes had claimed 26 lives by the end of June 2026.

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Preliminary findings suggest the truck involved in the crash was supposed to take the Jaipur-Ajmer exit but may have missed the turn because of inadequate signage at Zero Point. The truck reportedly slowed down after missing the exit before the bus approaching from behind crashed into it. Drivers travelling from the Delhi side are said to face confusion while entering the Jaipur 4C Link Expressway because of the absence of clear directional arrows and signboards at the junction.

Safety concerns have also been reported at other points along the expressway, where officials have identified unclear direction indicators, non-functional emergency SOS phones and weaknesses in monitoring speeding vehicles. Authorities have said signs placed around two kilometres before some exits are difficult to read at highway speeds. Following the July 1 crash, temporary encroachments between Alwar and Dausa were removed, while officials stressed that the exact cause of the accident would be established only after the investigation is completed.

The Dausa district administration has formed an eight-member inquiry committee headed by the Additional District Collector to examine safety concerns on the expressway. The committee is scheduled to inspect Packages 6, 7 and 8 between chainage 150 km and 240 km on July 8 and 9. The inquiry will focus on signage, emergency facilities, speed enforcement and other potential safety lapses as authorities seek measures to reduce accidents on one of the National Highways Authority of India's flagship infrastructure projects.

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