Supreme Court expert committee's suggestion that the road-owning agency or contractor be held criminally and financially liable for loss of life due to potholes can offer a salve.
Nothing can calm the rage and grief felt by the young father whose four-and-a-half-month-old son was taken from him by a pothole-related mishap. But the Supreme Court expert committee's suggestion that the road-owning agency or contractor be held criminally and financially liable for loss of life due to potholes can offer a salve.
The move is aimed at making contractors more accountable in the future. At least five people lost their lives from Kalyan, a town near Mumbai, in June and July 2018 itself.
Of them, 32-year-old Mahesh Atrale lost his son Aarav at Shivaji Chowk. On June 2, Atrale was riding his bike, with his wife and son sitting pillion when a crater cause the two-wheeler to jerk and Aarav fell off. He was run over by a truck and died on the spot.
When Atrale heard about the top court's suggestion, he felt relief.
"It would be a good thing if accountability is fixed," says Atrale. "Then contractors and agencies will take their work seriously and no more lives will be put at risk. Otherwise, such accidents will keep on happening, and no one would be bothered."
After his son passed away, Atrale wrote several times to KDMC (Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation) requesting that the road be repaired, but in vain. "One more accident took place at the same spot, even after the letters," he says.
Activist Shrinivas Ghanekar, who took up the issue consistently with KDMC, says that the Bombay High Court had passed a similar order in April. "The High Court had said that the planning authority — KDMC, MMRDA or MSRDC – is responsible for providing good roads to citizens under the Right to Life," she says. "And in case of an injury or loss of life due to poor condition of streets as a result of negligence on part of the municipal body or other authorities, a citizen has the right to seek compensation from the concerned authorities."
Where Atrale lost a child, others lost the sole breadwinner. To them, the possibility of compensation holds hope. "Though compensation cannot bring back a loved one," says Atrale, "it would go a long way to help a bereaved family that has lost a bread winner."
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