India, June 15 -- The death of eight devotees in Solapur district on Sunday after their pickup vehicle plunged into a roadside well has once again exposed an uncomfortable truth about infrastructure development in Maharashtra: roads are often built faster than they are made safe.

The victims were returning from a religious pilgrimage when their vehicle veered off the Satara-Pandharpur road near Tandulwadi village in Malshiras taluka and fell into a well located beside the carriageway. Seven others survived after local residents and fellow travellers jumped into the water and rescued them before emergency services arrived.

As investigators piece together the circumstances that led to the accident, one aspect of the tragedy stands out. Ac...