COIMBATORE: In a tragic accident, a 19-year-old college girl who was travelling on an auto rickshaw was killed on Friday at the junction where the Arivoli Nagar Road meets Western Ring Road near Mailkal after the auto was knocked down by a speeding goods vehicle. The girl who suffered severe head injuries died on the spot.
Soon after the accident, over 200 people of the surrounding areas blocked the junction and staged a huge protest. They also demanded safety measures at the junction. The police team from Madukkarai Sub-Division of Coimbatore Rural (District) police held a talk with them and barricaded the ring road for vehicular movement. They also asked the highways department not to allow traffic on the newly built ring road without completing the safety measures at intersections.
The deceased was Nirmala Devi (19), daughter of Viswanathan from Anna Sathukkam at Arivoli Nagar, was a second year BA History student in a government-aided private college at Kovaipudur. Arivoli Nagar, a large residential area located near Kovaipudur, does not have much bus connectivity, so people depend on the auto rickshaws and share autos to reach Kovaipudur, from there they can get buses.
On Friday morning, around 11 am, Nirmala Devi, along with four women, was travelling in an auto rickshaw towards Kovaipudur. While the auto rickshaw was crossing the four-road junction (Western Ring Road junction), a goods vehicle passing on the newly laid ring road from Madampatti to Mailkal, hit the rickshaw. The vehicle tripped, and the passengers suffered injuries after being thrown out of the vehicle. Nirmala suffered a grievous head injury and lost consciousness due to severe blood loss, and died at the spot later. The others were shifted to the nearby hospitals and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for further treatment.
The public and the family members of the accident victims thronged at the junction and blocked the vehicles passing in all four directions. They demanded a flyover or subway to cross the ring road safely.
"Earlier, the highways department assured to build a bridge at the junction to access Arivoli Nagar road. However, they did not construct any such facility and almost completed the road works. The junction has been left without any proper safety measures like signals, speed breakers and even barricades. Since the ring road has been opened for traffic unofficially, a lot of vehicles, especially goods vehicles, started to use it to travel between Palakkad Road and Siruvani Road. As the traffic increases, the number of accidents shoots up. Allowing vehicles on this ring road without ensuring safety measures at the intersections will cause accidents," said M Guna, a painter from Arivoli Nagar.
The protest lasted for over six hours, and the officials from the Highways department held talks with the public. A bridge was assured in a separate project. Until then, speed breakers and signals will be installed at the junction. Additionally, they assured to place barricades to prevent overspeeding and to close the ring road until its official inauguration, according to the officials.