Woman critical after KSRTC bus hits her while negotiating bad stretch of road

A large pothole and a bad stretch of road appeared on Vatal Nagaraj Road recently following the spell of heavy rains in the last week

A mother-daughter duo was injured when a speeding Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus knocked down their scooter when they were reportedly trying to negotiate a potholed stretch of road on the busy Vatal Nagaraj Road near Lulu Mall in Rajajinagar. 

The victim, Umadevi, 50, was riding pillion while her daughter Vanitha, 28, was riding the scooter to drop her back home when the accident occurred at around 9.30 a.m. There was a large pothole and a bad stretch of road that appeared recently following the spell of heavy rains in the last week. As Vanitha was trying to negotiate the bad stretch, the speeding KSRTC bus rammed into the scooter from behind. Vanitha lost control over the vehicle after being knocked down by the bus and the duo fell off the scooter. While Vanitha fell on the left side, her mother Umadevi came under the front portion of the bus and got hit by the foot board and sustained severe injuries on her hip. Passers-by rushed the duo to nearby ESI hospital where Umadevi is being treated at ICU, while Vanitha escaped with minor injuries.

The Malleswaram Traffic Police rushed to the spot and arrested the driver and seized the bus for further investigation. The police also barricaded the bad patch of the road. However, the police said the complaint lodged by Vanitha only alleges negligence by the KSRTC bus and doesn’t mention the condition of the road. 

Activists from Aam Aadmi Party and Karnataka Rashtra Samithi held a protest at the accident site around the pothole and the bad stretch of the road, condemning the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the shoddy condition of the roads in the city and alleged large scale corruption in civic works, including in pothole filling in the city.

Chief Civic Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said they were waiting for the probe by the Bengaluru Traffic Police to ascertain whether the accident happened owing to the pothole or not. “We will immediately initiate measures to close the pothole and redo the stretch. The stretch of the road is under the maintenance of Python. Any legal action or compensation to be issued to the victims of the accident will depend on the findings of the probe by the police,” he said. The commissioner will inspect the spot on foot on Tuesday.