BENGALURU: In an alleged act of negligence on the part of a gate man manning the railway Level Crossing (LC) gate on Nagawara Main Road, the gates on either side that he had opened after a train had passed, came down suddenly when the motorists crossing. No one was injured.
The incident happened at 3.58 pm on this crowded road as soon as the Kochuveli Express had departed. Gate man Chandru was on duty at LC gate no. 142, located around 300m from the Kaadugondanahalli police station. The road links Nagawara on one side and Doddi, Fraser Town and Shivajinagar on the other.
Eyewitness S Siddaraju, a social worker, heading to Nagawara from Kadugondanahalli on a two-wheeler told TNIE, “The railway staffer opened the gate and rushed to his cabin nearby.
The vehicles in front of me moved ahead, and when I was about to go, the gate came down in seconds. People behind screamed loudly. A cop rushed and shouted to the gate man to come out. A few vehicles got stuck on the tracks between the two gates.”
The gate man came out and raised the gate, apologising to those around, Siddaraju added. “It was a lucky escape for many as two iron gates came down suddenly. It could have injured two-wheeler riders and pedestrians. I would call it complete negligence on the part of the railway staffer,” he said.
KG Halli traffic police said, “Luckily, no one was injured. The Railways had intimated us some time ago this gate and four others nearby would be removed and replaced with an underpass,” said a policeman. This reporter checked the system in place there. The gate is operated manually with a handle that controls a circular pulley-like structure that controls the gate operations.
To make it doubly-safe, a steel wire is clasped round the handle and is fastened to the bottom of this structure. This is to ensure the gate does not budge. Asked what happened, the gatekeeper, an ex-serviceman, claimed it was not his fault. “The wind blew at great force and shook the gates. The steel wire must have automatically come out of its position.” Chandru claimed it was a minor incident and he did not think it merited alerting his higher-ups at Banaswadi railway station. He added, “In three years I have worked here, something of this kind has taken place for the first time.”