HYDERABAD: What was supposed to be an auspicious start for two families pushed four into darkness and despair. N Shiva Kumar, a 2018 batch police constable recently cleared the preliminary entrance examination to become a sub-inspector. Overjoyed, he and 10 of his friends had gone to Maisigandi temple to pray and celebrate his success.
Similarly, tractor driver Sambali Yadaiah had also come to the temple with his relatives, on a brand new tractor that he purchased just a week ago. He wanted to offer a puja to the god for successful business. On Sunday night, an SUV in which Shiva Kumar and friends were travelling in tried to overtake the tractor on highway stretch near Debbaguda village. Eventually, the car rammed the tractor from behind.
Police-constable Vinod Kumar, who was driving the car, and Yadaiah’s relative (D Yadaiah) died on the spot, while Shiva Kumar and his friend Arake Eswar, who worked as a marketing manager with a software firm in the city, breathed their last on Monday while undergoing treatment. According to the cops, the SUV lost control while trying to overtake the tractor.
It hit the tractor from behind, to the right side. The tractor swerved and toppled into a field by the side of the road while the car crashed into an electric pole. The farmer has now been booked for ferrying people in a vehicle meant for transporting goods. According to sources, the victims tried contacting 108 ambulance service, but was informed that waiting time would be around 1 hour. So the cops took the injured to Maheshwaram government hospital in their patrol cars. They were later shifted to Osmania General Hospital.
An engineer turned cop
Though an engineer by graduation, it was Shiva Kumar’s lifetime dream and ambition to wear the khaki uniform. He missed the selection examination held in 2014 as he was in some other job, but got selected in the recent constable recruitment and was deputed to Narayanaguda police in March 2018. His elder brother Prem said he wanted to make a difference by being a police officer. “That is why, he did not stop with being a constable and appeared for the Sub-Inspector recruitment test and got qualified also. He was preparing for the physical tests. But his dream was short lived,” says Prem Kumar.
Absence of median
The accident has exposed the lack of safety features on the busy Srisailam highway. In 2018, more than 10 persons were killed in different accidents on the highway falling under Kandukur police station limits. The entire stretch was repaired recently and the markings on the road were also done, but other infrastructure including road divider and lighting were not set up There are no lights on any part of the road, even at places where it passes through junctions or villages.
The highway no NH 765, was under the control of National Highways(NH) Department of Telangana, since its construction 2015 and it was a ten metre wide stretch all through. In March this year, the road was handed over to National Highways Authority of India(NHAI) for development. According to officials, the NHAI is in the process of preparing proposals for elevating the highway into a four-lane road.
Though the entire process is time-consuming, after it is completed, the road will have dividers and signages. NH officials stated that since it is not a four lane road and not in the city limits, dividers are not set up. But the providing lighting on the roads in the responsibility of the local authorities, which was also not done, they claim. Signages were installed at the time of construction, but they were either faded or disturbed, they said.
People continue to ply on tractors
Despite police and the transport department officials claiming they have a zero-tolerance policy towards the use of goods vehicles, like tractors, to ferry passengers, the practice is rampant. More than 25 other persons including women and children travelling in that tractor escaped a major mishap. This is the second such incident in the recent past involving tractors.
Earlier in June this year, a tractor overturned in Bhongir killing more than 15 persons, all agricultural labourers. Traffic police officials claimed that checking the menace of goods vehicles carrying people for various purposes is the actual responsibility of transport department.
However, in the city, when they notice vehicles with such violations, they impose penalty. Transport officials claim that it is allowed to carry labourers in tractors and lorries, but it is prohibited for other purposes. However, it is a common practice in the rural areas to travel in tractors, lorries and trolleys. Though cases are booked, in most of the incidents, they are let off due to the financial situation of the persons travelling or the person owning the vehicle.