Four years after a three-year-old Pavitra got killed in a potholed related accident on Delhi-Agra Highway, Faridabad Police charged the executives of Larsen & Turbo and Delhi-Agra Toll Road Private Ltd with negligence on their part as reported by The Times of India.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Faridabad police were handling the case since August, and they found the Directors and Project managers of the two companies responsible for the accident which happened at Bata Chowk in Faridabad, in February 2014. The report has been submitted in a local court through an affidavit. According to The Tribune, the report submitted by the police has charged the accused under Section 173 of CrPC for causing grievous hurt by endangering life or personal safety and causing death due to negligence.
Pavitra’s father Manoj is fighting the battle since 2014, and he is planning to continue it till all the agencies and their representatives are held accountable for their negligence. In February 2014, Manoj with his family was returning from a family function when the accident happened. He lost balance because of potholes and Pavitra fell on a sharp stone on his chest. Manoj’s wife also fell down, and a vehicle ran over her legs. When they reached hospital Pavitra was declared dead.
“The fight is not just for my son. Why can’t agencies take steps to avoid such tragedies? Why can’t we have a protocol to identify and fill our potholes? The practice of paying Rs 4-5 lakh compensation for each death should stop. How can government end the matter fixing such a price for any human life,” Manoj said. After the accident, Manoj went to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Human Rights Commission, Haryana Government and Faridabad Police but nobody helped him initially then he filed a case in Punjab and Haryana High Court in September 2016. The next hearing of the case is on December 5.
The Logical Indian Take
Every day we came across news of people getting killed in a potholed related accident, the government should pay attention to solving these issues. According to the 2017 data, every day ten people die because of the pothole-related accident in the country, and the authorities of road maintenance and construction remained unquestioned. A country without providing facilities of necessary infrastructure cannot achieve the status of the world-class economy which our leaders have a vision of. The private contractors and agencies should be held responsible for the quality of their work, its a high time there should not be any negligence on the government’s part to ignore their doings.
Also Read: Over 10,000 Lives Were Claimed By Potholes In The Last Three Years, Across India
