Hyderabad:
There was a slight drizzle when Riya Gudiyal was pillion-riding home with a friend on Tuesday afternoon. The 17-year-old was excited and happy that she was going to join an engineering college shortly. Just a few feet short of Anand Theatre, the two-wheeler skid and the two of them fell on either side of the road. An RTC bus behind them ran over the young girl. She died in a hospital.
Angry locals blame the callous and criminal negligence of the authorities who failed to notice or do anything about an accident waiting to happen. "A life lost is lost forever. If the government had taken minimum precautions, this would not happened. At least 15-16 people skid at the same place and finally this girl was unlucky and got killed,'' said Alex, who works at a shop right opposite where the accident happened.
Local residents said that even after the tragedy, at least three people had skid and fell on the same stretch.
"It was a death most unnecessary. Why should a young girl, hardly 17 years, die like this? Just because they dump mud and the roads are bad after the rains,'' asks Venkataiah, a local resident.
Within 24 hours after the accident, a massive clean-up operation was on that looked almost like a cover-up. Layers of mud were being removed from Hyderabad's arterial SP Road, all along the length of the L&T Metro Rail works. The motorable part of the road was looking almost spic and span.
Pavan who works in a nearby high-end car showroom says it could have been anyone. "It was a horrible accident. I also don't feel safe. The quality of roads they lay is so bad. Literally stones and mud are coming out of it. Safety is completely ignored.''
On Wednesday, it was not raining and yet nearly one-third of S P Road, one of the most prominent and busy roads, was filled with water.
A criminal case of negligence has been booked against the bus driver. Ganga Reddy, circle inspector, Ramgopalpet, Hyderabad, told NDTV that the driver is responsible as he did not maintain distance and was not alert to put the brake.
Strangely neither the roads and buildings department nor the L&T Metro Rail authorities have been held accountable. R&B is responsible for maintenance of some 350 km of important roads in Hyderabad.