NEW DELHI: Days after the death of a software engineer whose car plunged into a water-filled pit in Noida, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said India's urban collapse is not about lack of money, technology, or solutions but about the lack of accountability.
Yuvraj Mehta (27), who worked in Gurugram, was returning to his home in Noida Sector 150 when his car fell into a deep, water-filled pit near an under-construction site on the night of January 16. He died after frantically pleading for help for around two hours.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "Roads kill, bridges kill, fires kill, water kills, pollution kills, corruption kills, indifference kills."
"India's urban collapse isn't about lack of money, technology, or solutions. It's about lack of accountability. TINA: There Is No Accountability," the Leader of Opposition said in a post on X.
Gandhi shared a video carrying the remarks of an eyewitness, who said timely action could have saved the man, and that of the deceased's father, who lamented that there were several people there with some of them making videos but did not act to save his son.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday removed the Noida Authority CEO and ordered an SIT probe into the death of the software engineer, amid mounting outrage over the incident and allegations of official and developer negligence.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and directed the constitution of a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the circumstances leading to the accident and submit a report within five days.
Mehta, a resident of Tata Eureka Park society, worked with a Gurugram-based company and was returning home late at night when the accident occurred.
His body was recovered after a prolonged search operation involving the fire department, police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
The postmortem examination conducted on Monday revealed that Mehta died due to asphyxia followed by cardiac arrest, police said. The report noted that his nose was blocked with mud and water, indicating drowning. His last rites were performed later in the day in Haridwar in the presence of his father Raj Kumar Mehta and other family members.
The incident has sparked allegations of negligence, inadequate safety arrangements and delays in rescue efforts, with his father saying he had reached the spot and police, other rescue personnel were also there but could not save him.
"If expert divers could have gone in, then maybe my son would have been saved. Yuvraj kept crying for help as the car drowned," he had lamented while speaking to reporters.
An eyewitness, Monidra, a delivery agent, alleged that timely intervention could have saved the techie. Local residents staged protests over the weekend, accusing authorities and developers of ignoring repeated complaints about waterlogging, lack of barricading and absence of reflectors near the drain and construction site.