Ulhasnagar woman falls off bike due to pothole, gets run over by truck
Representational Image. Picture Courtesy : Manoj Chaudhari
The lackadaisical attitude of the civic body towards repairing of potholes resulted in the death of a 45-year-old woman in Ulhasnagar on Tuesday.
The deceased, Ramrati Gupta, was riding pillion with her son and enroute to her bakery in Shanti Nagar area when the incident occurred. When they reached the stretch of road near Neelam Hotel on the Kalyan-Badlapur road, her son Devendra lost control of the two-wheeler after it went over a pothole.
While Devendra fell on the left side, his mother fell on the right side and was crushed to death by a speeding truck. The driver, Vinod Yadav, was quickly apprehended by the locals following the accident and handed over to the cops.
According to an official with Central police station, “The accident happened because of the pothole. However, the trucker was also driving rashly and failed to apply the brakes on time, which led to Ramrati’s demise.”
Yadav has been booked for rash and negligent driving by Central police station.
Incidentally, another motorist fell of his bike on the same road on Tuesday. But he was lucky as the car behind him managed to stop in time.
Yuvraj Bhadane, Public Relation Officer of Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, told a leading daily that the road comes under MMRDA but is maintained by the civic body. He has assured that a probe will be conducted to find out the person responsible and strict action will be taken against them.
The Kalyan-Badlapur road has been littered with potholes even before the onset of monsoon. Locals have reportedly complained to the civic body multiple times, but no avail.
“I witness 1-2 accidents everyday because of the bad roads. Most times it is the bikers who bear the brunt and take a fall since it’s difficult to control the bike after it goes over the potholes. Fortunately, the potholes also mean that vehicles cannot travel quickly which helps avoid major accidents and deaths. Bikers just get up, blame the civic body and get on their way,” said Prakash More a local paan shop vendor.
