A teenage girl is lying in a ward of a hospital in Guwahati, with a broken elbow, swollen eyes and grasping for a proper breath.
For her condition whom to blame? I still don’t know. She was hit by an over speeding bike at around 7 pm on August 7 just in front of her apartment.
The school girl was hit by the motorbike while returning from her tuition class. She had to appear an exam the next day.
But destiny had other plans, after being hit by the speeding bike she fell to the ground and immediately lost her consciousness.
Passerby came to the rescue, and one of the eyewitnesses told me that the chocolate she was chewing while she was about to enter her apartment premises was coming out as froth from her mouth along with blood.
She was immediately rushed to the nearby hospital. And since then, three hospitals have been changed. But her condition is still the same.
The spot of the accident was opposite the Barsapara Cricket Stadium. And it was not the first incident of hit-and-run accident at the spot.
Several times in the past, people on the road were hit by speeding bikes. Don’t know where the motorbikes come from, and where they vanish?
Criminals, drug and alcohol addicts, have unleashed a reign of terror in the area.
Taking advantage of the good road condition, the bikers, most of whom are addicts, carry out stunts, and zoom at speed beyond controllable limits.
Residents in the area are now scared to walk on the road, especially in the evening.
Surprisingly, the government is also not keen to lay rumble strips on the road to tame the speeding motor-bikers.
A section of people had approached the administration with the request to lay rumble strips on the road.
Since the road is often used by VVIPs, including international cricket players, the request for rumble strips have been turned down.
How can the government be so careless about lives of common people?
As we understand that India is doing away with the red beacon VVIP culture, we don’t understand as to why the speed-breakers not could be laid on the road.
With a heavy heart, it is my fervent plea to the authorities to kindly take note of our request, and save the common people from the accidents on the road.
(Rajat Das is a resident of Barsapara in Guwahati)