Bangalore: Inspite of the awareness created by media, an evidence for the carelessness of BBMP, a pot-hole has claimed a life. A women, who was unnoticed by the driver in an attempt to skirt a pothole lost her life in an attempt to cross the road yesterday.
The victim has been identified as Lakshmidevi, a native of Ananthpur district in Andhra Pradesh. She was knocked down around 3:30 pm by a Tamil Nadu-bound bus (registration number TN 23 N 2179) that was taking a left turn on S J P Road to reach Hudson Circle junction.
“The driver was concentrating so much on the pothole that he did not see the woman come under the wheels. It was only when fellow motorists and pedestrians started shouting that he braked to a stop, but by then the woman was in a pool of blood,” Lakshman, an eyewitness, told the police. Traffic police sub-inspector Basavaraju C who was at the spot said the accident could have been avoided. “If not for the pothole, the woman would have been alive.” The bus driver, who immediately fled the spot fearing public anger, was subsequently arrested.
According to police, it is one of the most chaotic stretches. “All vehicles, barring BMTC buses, have to take a left at the junction and proceed toward Hudson Circle and, as a result, there is heavy flow of traffic. Compounding the problem are pedestrians who have no option except to run across moving vehicles. Potholes at the spot have worsened the problem,” said a police official.
Speaking to media, one of the victims sons, Hanumantharaya, said, “She had come to Bangalore to sell groundnuts, we did not expect her to be run over by a bus. Had it not been for someone who identified her, we would not have known our mother was dead. The cops told us it was a high-density traffic road dotted with potholes, We do not know the reason and who is responsible for it, but the fact is our mother has been killed on the roads of Bangalore. We are farmers and not rich or educated as many in Bangalore are, but she was our mother. Will she come back? We only hope more Bangaloreans do not become victims like our mother.”
