HYDERABAD: TM Nandeeswara Babji had just received his new uniform from the tailor, purchased new shoes and was all set to join as an additional SP. The newly promoted cop was on his morning walk in Hayathnagar on Saturday. Around 4.40 am, he was mowed by a speeding APSRTC bus.
“Our happiness that he got a promotion turned out to be short-lived,” Babji’s family members lamented. Rachakonda IT cell ACP Narender Goud had worked with Babji in TRANSCO Vigilance and known him for over 15 years. Speaking to TNIE, Narender said, “Babji was soft-spoken. He just did his duty and had no issues with other officers. I was heartbroken when I heard about his death at 5.30 am on Saturday. I had just called him two days ago and greeted him when he got promoted.”
His is not the only life that was snuffed out on the roads of Hyderabad on Saturday. On the same day, Prabhavathi Chathriya, a Class 10 student was returning home on a bike driven by her 21-year-old elder brother after writing her SSC exam. The bike was hit by a bus on Gachibowli around 1 pm. She died on the spot.
Later on Saturday, around midnight, two cars collided with each other on the Outer Ring Road near Exit 18a. One person was killed and at least two others suffered serious injuries. Speeding is the likely cause, say police.
These are not isolated incidents. Four to five precious lives are lost in road accidents each day in the Hyderabad, Rachakonda and Cyberabad police commissionerate limits, shows data from 2023 and 2024. Death on the roads due to overspeeding, drunken driving, wrong-side driving and other traffic violations has become part of everyday life in the city.
The state has failed to implement the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which imposes heftier fines on traffic violators. When TNIE asked Hyderabad Joint CP (Traffic) Joel Davis if Telangana is planning to at least implement it now, he just reiterated that the state has not adopted the amended Act till now.
Traffic expert and founder of the Indian Federation of Road Safety, Vinod K Kanumula, told TNIE that the government should implement the amended Act soon.
“When people do not listen, the government should be strict. If fines are heavy, people would think twice about violating rules. But governments are scared of people and worry about losing their votes. Not just Telangana, many states have not been implementing the amended Act. Interestingly, some states have even reduced the fines. Not just the developed countries, even Brazil, a developing country like us, imposes heavy fines and has strict punishment for traffic violations.”
‘Government alone cannot be blamed for mishaps’
It may be recalled that the Telangana government, in December 2023, even offered up to 90% discounts on traffic challans for violators.
A person working with an NGO and coordinating with the police on regulating traffic in the city said that people’s representatives have the responsibility to prevent the “destruction of families on the roads”. S Kiran Kumar, managing trustee of the Synergy India Foundation, an NGO working for the safety of the people, said that hundreds approach the transport department for licences daily, and most of them receive them without being adequately educated about traffic rules and signals. “If we ask drivers with licences about traffic rules and signals, how many of them would be able to answer correctly?” Kumar questioned. “Is it the drivers’ fault or the department’s fault for issuing licences to ineligible individuals?”
But the government alone cannot be blamed, pointed out Kanumula. “The blame lies equally on the people as they drive the wrong way, don’t wear helmets, drink and drive, and so on. They know that it is wrong but think that nothing is going to happen to them. That is one of the main reasons for the deaths on the roads,” he said.
He turned nostalgic and recalled that back in the 1970s, there was a time when there was lane discipline in Hyderabad.
“Four-wheelers used one lane, RTC buses another, and so on. Now any vehicle can go anywhere on the roads,” he lamented.