Carelessness kills mother, child in Bangalore

Life in Bangalore is cheap, whether it’s the fault of the victim or the authorities. Gross carelessness on their own part cost a woman and her two-year-old son their lives as Mysore–Bangalore Tippu express run over them when they were trying to cross the tracks near Nayandahalli railway station on Monday afternoon.

Typical of the kind of public response that is evoked after unavoidable accidents such as this one, people vented their anger saying that the railways and civic authorities’ failed in providing a safe crossing via an overhead footbridge or a subway. And this had resulted in the death of the 35-year-old woman, Roja S, a resident of Nayandahalli, and her two-year-old son, Vishnu.
The incident took place at 1.15 pm when Roja, with Vishnu in her arms, and her five-year-old daughter, Vedavathi, a UKG student in a private school, were on their way to Star Bazaar on Nayandahalli Main Road, just across the tracks from where Roja and her family lived.

While crossing the tracks, Vedavathi ran ahead of her mother, who was moving at a slower pace as she was holding Vishnu in her arms. It was then that Roja noticed the train approaching. Panicking over the possibility of Vedavathi being run over by the train, Roja started running but came right under the wheels of Tippu Express, killing her and Vishnu instantly. Vedavathi, however, managed to run clear of the tracks.

“I received the information from the train guard about the incident and rushed to the spot. I found the girl with minor injuries; the train driver had stopped the train on realising that someone had come under the wheels,” Nayandahalli station master, SAK Jilani, told DNA.

Immediately after the accident, Nayandahalli residents demanded that a skywalk or an underpass be built right outside the railway station for them to cross the tracks safely. However, Jilani pointed out that there was a bridge in the vicinity of the station, but people prefer crossing the tracks to save time.
“Although there is a `100 stipulated fine for trespassers on railway tracks, it is extremely difficult to enforce, as hundreds of people cross the tracks every day. Not only here (Nayandahalli), this is the situation at almost all railway stations,” Jilani said.
Underpass exists

South Western Railway (SWR) spokesperson said “It is common sense that people should not cross the tracks. We have provided an underpass after the local MLAs and corporators demanded it. If people do not use, it’s not our fault. Is it possible for us to put a railway police every few metres of the track? Even if we put up barricades, how many can we put up? We closed the level crossing after we gave them (the residents) a separate underpass.”

However, a Nayandahalli resident, Srinivas Gowda, a supervisor with a civil construction company, said the underpass in question is two kilometres from the station.

“There are no facilities for pedestrians there. If we walk, it would take a very long time for us to get to the other side of the station. If we used a vehicle, we get stuck in the underpass for at least an hour. When we have kids going to school and we have to go to work, we simply can’t afford to waste our time waiting... We have been asking for an underpass at Nayandahalli junction, near the slum, where a lot of track crossing happens,” he said.