Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Five deaths in two major fatal accidents on Shaheed Gowari and Sakkardara fly-over within a fortnight raises a question mark on traffic management and safety measures on these bridges. Lane cutting, overtaking, overspeeding, using mobile while driving are regular rule violations on the city over-bridges by negligent drivers. In fact, the deterrent of law is the main factor as violators are going scot free even after snuffing out lives.
In the past eight months, 13 persons were killed and 18 injured seriously in various accidents reported on fly-overs in the city, according to data compiled by traffic police. A police official privy to the investigations of the two fatalities said that two things were common in recent these two major accidents -- first thing was the vehicles were driven at great break-neck speed and second was the height of the parapet wall, it was not enough to save the bike riders falling from the bridge.
In the Sakkardara bridge case, the negligent car driver was speaking to his wife on mobile phone when he lost control on the steering and knocked dead four people on the bridge, he said.
He further said that many errant drivers were found over-speeding their vehicles on the fly-overs. Therefore, interceptor vehicles were deployed on Sakkardara and Sadar fly-over to check cases of over-speeding. He also pointed out the problem of lane cutting on the bridges. “Lane cutting and overtaking on the fly-over is not allowed as per the rule. However, drivers were found indulged in such errant driving on the will,” he claimed.
On the issue of parapet wall, the official said that the height of the parapet wall needs to be increased with a protective barrier so that if the accident occurs then victims would not be tossed off from the bridge. He gave an example of the Sadar fly-over and said that there were three accidents reported on the Sadar fly-over last year in which the victims fell off from the bridge. Soon after, the authorities had installed protective barriers on the bridge that saved the victim from falling off the bridge, he said.
Similar types of arrangements need to be done on all the fly-overs in city, he said.
Ravindra Kaskhedikar, Secretary, Janakrosh, said that the accidents are nothing but murders committed by the negligent drivers. The police should initiate stern and effective action against the accused persons.
Traffic police to conduct survey : DCP Awad
When asked DCP Sarang Awad said that patrolling and presence of interceptor vehicles on the fly-overs have been increased after the accident. The police will also conduct a survey of the fly-overs to ascertain the reason behind the accidents and suggest precautionary measures to save precious lives.
Comments
Post a Comment