BENGALURU: Bengaluru’s killer roads on Monday night claimed the life of a 65-year-old physically challenged man when his customised three-wheeler bike went over a water-filled pothole on Manganapalya Main Road in Kamakshipalya traffic police limits. The sudden lurch caused him to lose control of the vehicle. He fell, hitting his head on the road, and died on the spot. The deceased, Khurshid Ahmed, was a resident of Bismillah Nagar in BTM Layout.
The accident took place at 8.30pm Monday, just hours after Revenue Minister R Ashoka directed BBMP to fill up potholes on Bengaluru’s main roads by September 20, and across the city by the month-end.
A senior police officer said Khurshid was returning home when he failed to notice the pothole as it was dark and filled with water, and did not reduce his speed or try to avoid it. As the vehicle’s front wheel went into the pothole, he lost control and fell. Passersby alerted police, and his body was shifted to Victoria Hospital.
Khurshid’s relative Ahmed Zubair on Tuesday approached police and alleged that negligence of the authorities was responsible for the senior citizen’s death, and demanded serious action against them. Senior police officers inspected the spot and registered a suo motu case against Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials, and booked BDA under IPC 304A (Causing death by negligence), an investigation officer said.
Incidentally, police also booked Khurshid for rash driving under IPC 279. His body was handed over to his family after postmortem on Tuesday evening. Khurshid had got the was riding was given to him three years ago under a special scheme for physically challenged persons for their safe mobility. Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, expressing shock, said, “He was one of the beneficiaries to whom we had distributed vehicles three years ago. The local corporator and political leaders are equally responsible for lack of maintenance of roads in their wards.”
BLAME GAME
The killer pothole was part of a pit dug last month for underground pipe works, which had not been fixed after work was complete. A BDA engineer said that the road from Manganapalya Cross to Ramachandra Lake was asphalted. “BWSSB wanted to connect two manholes by a drainage pipe. Without taking permission, they dug the road last month and didn’t asphalt it,” he added. BWSSB visited the spot on Tuesday and repaired the road. BWSSB Chairman N Jayaram refused to respond to calls. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said BBMP officials have been instructed to take up work on filling up potholes on a war footing, once the intensity of rain reduces.