In less than a week three people have died due to alleged negligence or lack of infrastructure. Barely two days before a transformer burst resulting in the death of a 19-year-old girl and her father, a 14-year-old student was mowed down by a garbage truck on the busy Ballari Road. The girl, Akshaya, and a few other pedestrians were attempting to jump over a median on the busy Ballari Road. They wanted to avoid the pedestrian underpass as it was badly maintained and filled with stagnating water.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) handed over a cheque of ₹5 lakh as compensation to her family. Civic Chief Gaurav Gupta, on Friday also relieved Ashok Bagi, assistant executive engineer, BBMP’s Road Infrastructure division for alleged dereliction in maintaining the pedestrian underpass and skywalk.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Gupta said that the skywalk was just yards away from the accident spot and had been inaugurated eight months ago. He said that the BBMP would strive towards making roads safe for citizens by ensuring that the pedestrian facilities are maintained in a good condition.
Local MLA Byrathi Suresh had also given ₹3 lakh from his personal funds, while the garbage truck owner had given ₹2 lakh. The insurance claim amount would also be handed over to the bereaved family, he said and added that the civic body would bear the cost of education of Akshaya’s two siblings.
The family did not want to accept the compensation initially. However, senior civic officials went to their home and convinced them to accept the compensation, he said.
Mr. Suresh, who handed over the compensation to the family, said that he had urged the civic chief to explore the possibility of alloting a house under one of the housing schemes to the bereaved family.
