One killed, 11 hurt in Nizamuddin bridge pile-up

The crane finally lifted the trolley, but the driver was dead. He was subsequently identified as Sanjay Singh, a resident of Kela village, in the Kotwali police station area in Ghaziabad. There was no number plate on the trolley, just a sign that said `applied for’. A case (FIR no. 1083/98) has been registered at the Trilokpuri police station under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Amdist the 300-m stretch of shattered glass lay 26 smashed vehicles — four Marutis, six trucks, eight Blueline buses, three DTC buses, one private bus, a motorbike and three autorickshaws.

Apart from the case registered at Trilokpuri, two more cases have been registered at the Nizammudin police station. In the first (FIR. no 719/98), complainant Kanwar Dev Banota — a resident of 149-B UNA Enclave in Mayur Vihar Phase-1 — said that he was driving his Maruti (no. Dl-1GG-3298) very slowly on the Nizammudin bridge at around 7.40 a.m. He couldn’t see clearly because of the heavy fog. It was at this time that a truck (no. DL-1G-A-2999) banged into him from behind. The case has been registered under Section 279 IPC.

While Banota managed to escape unhurt, the Paramar family was not so lucky. At around 8 a.m. Sanjeev Paramar and his family were going from Patparganj to Kalkaji in their Maruti van (no. HR-26-G-7697). They reached the bridge, and Sanjeev said he was driving very slowly because of the fog and heavy traffic. Suddenly the van was hit from behind by a Blueline bus (no. DL-1P-A-2420 on route number 323) that was trying to overtake. Sanjeev suffered minor injuries. A case (FIR no. 720/98) has been registered under Section 297 and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) IPC. Of the 11 persons injured, eight were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with minor injuries and were discharged after being administered first-aid. Two brothers — Mukesh and Ram Lakhan — were taken to the LNJP Hospital. The former had a fractured leg and has been shifted to orthopaedics while the latter had a ear injury and was referred to the ENT department.

One person was seriously injured and was immediately rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital. He was later identified as Surjeet Singh. The doctor on duty in B-Ward said that Singh was brought with a severe chest injury and a litre of blood had collected in his chest. However, his condition is now stable, the doctor said.

With the onslaught of rush-hour traffic, the police had to divert vehicles to the ITO bridge from 9.30 a.m. onwards, while they tried to clear out the damaged vehicles. Office-goers were stranded on the bridge for two hours, causing tempers to fly high and increasing tension because of the delay in getting to their workplace. Commuters said that there was also a certain element of fear: The jam looked so ominous that drivers figured something terrible had happened ahead.

Commuter Archita Das said: “Traffic was moving, but at a snail’s pace. I was so worried. Traffic is never so heavy on the bridge. I couldn’t see anything … just rows of cars, glass and mangled steel all over the road. I kept wondering how many people had died.”

Initially, unable to control the traffic flow, harried constables said, “What can we do? We are trying our best. But the public is not cooperating. We can’t help the delay, we are trying to clear it. They must be patient.”

The bridge was opened again at around 12.30 p.m., at which time there still lay a smashed brand new red Maruti, a banged Blueline bus, a few glass pieces down the road, two more Bluelines that had collided with each other, and slightly ahead another damaged biscuit-coloured Maruti.

By around 5.30 p.m., two Bluelines stood on the right side of the road. The only indication of the morning’s chaos being the trail of broken glass.