HYDERABAD: The drunken driving accident at Pedamberpet here on Sunday night, which left 6-year-old Sanjana in coma and her mother Sreedevi in a critical condition, brings back haunting memories for Pammi Radhika who is still smarting under the terrible loss of three members of her family _ her 10-year-old daughter Ramya, father-in-law P Madhusudan and brother-in-law Rajesh.
Holding back tears, she said sternly that the time for bringing in a Ramya Act is overdue. People like Racharla Shravil, who was driving the car that rammed Radhika’s at Banjara Hills in the recent past and caused the tragedy, will be more sane and responsible, she hopes. He was the prime accused in the case but got out on bail.
“It is shocking. Alas! Someone could be so drunk and irresponsible on a day when liquor shops were closed across the country. Who can roads be safe? We have a business and three generations in our family have been hospitalised. How unfortunate is that?” says a distraught Radhika.
Ramya’s father, Venkata Ramana, remains the sole bread-winner in the family after the demise of his brother and father.
“The youngsters who took the liberty of driving after getting drunk are walking freely. We are the ones suffering, grieving the loss of our family members and pleading tirelessly with the government for justice,” he said.
These youngsters have been exempted from punishment on the ground that they are juveniles. “Who is responsible for them? It should be parents, but we don’t see anything happening,” said Ramana.
Chips in Radhika: “Shravil has set an example, showing the world that one can do anything and get away with it in this country. We have not received a single condolence message from their side. We are not able to understand if it is power or money that is playing a role here,” she said.
A number of families have been wrecked because of drunken and reckless driving, said Radhika and demanded to know how many more Ramyas should get killed and how many more mothers should grieve and suffer like her.
She said that because her husband Ramana is a software employee, they are able to even partly fund their treatment. “In the case of families like Sanjana’s, whose father earns a paltry `100, where will they go? And it is unfortunate that someone who means no harm to anyone has now been brought to this kind of situation,” she said.
Ramana has not been going to work since the tragedy. He has been busy meeting people and trying to meet the chief minister but without success.
“We are not able to understand why there is a delay. Something needs to be done,” he said. While the parents are unable to move ahead, Ramya’s sister too has lost a part of her, said Radhika.