Jaipur, Feb 20 (PTI) Rajasthan minister Manju Baghmar said on Thursday that the LPG tanker accident on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway in December last year was caused due to the negligence of two drivers.

An LPG tanker collided with a truck on December 20, sparking a massive fireball that turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway into an inferno, engulfing more than 35 vehicles. While 11 people were killed on the day of the accident, the toll later increased to more than 20.

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Baghmar, who is the minister of state for public works department, was replying to supplementary questions raised in this regard during the Question Hour session of the state assembly.

The accident happened due to the negligence of the drivers of the truck and the tanker, she said, adding that it could have been avoided had there been other 'safeguards'.

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The state government is sensitive towards such road accidents and is taking every possible measure to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future, the minister said.

The government is also reviewing the existing rules to make the transportation of inflammable materials safe, she said.

Taking action after the accident, the government closed 32 of the 33 unauthorised 'cuts' on the Ajmer road, besides transferring an official of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Baghmar said.

The state government has also prepared an action plan with a target to reduce road accidents by 50 per cent by 2030 and by 75 per cent by 2033.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)