Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 28 NOV: In a tragic road accident, 17 persons including women and a minor were killed and seven others were injured after their vehicle in which they were travelling rammed into a stone-laden truck parked on the roadside at around 12.45 am last night at Fulbari under Hanskhali police station limits in Nadia.
The victims, who are mostly residents of ParMadan Forest under Baghda police station limits of North 24 Parganas, were travelling in a vehicle carrying a dead person named Sivani Mohori (83) to reach Nabadwip in Nadia to perform last rites of the deceased.
Of these 17 persons who were killed in the accident, there are 10 men, 6 women and a 5-year-old girl. As many as seven others who suffered injuries were immediately taken to the Saktinagar district hospital in Krishnagar for treatment.
The police officials said 13 persons were pronounced brought dead while four persons died in the Saktinagar district hospital within a few hours after admission. Among the injured, five persons were referred to Kalyani or Kolkata hospital, but two of them denied going elsewhere.
The family members of the victims raised fingers at the hospital authorities alleging that the victims were not examined for long hours as there were no doctors in the night in the hospital.
“The situation was so terrible that the patients were crying for drinking water, but there were no health workers to provide water to them. Only one doctor was attending in the surgical room, but all the patients were attended by the nurses only,” said Bapi Biswas, one of the relatives of the Mohori family.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on hearing the inicident said that she is “Heartbroken to hear about the road accident in Nadia.”
“I offer my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of those who were injured. May God give them the strength to get past this difficult time. The Government of West Bengal will extend every necessary assistance and support to the kin of the victims. We are beside you in this sad hour,” Miss Banerjee tweeted.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitter and wrote, “The road accident in Nadia district of West Bengal is very unfortunate. I express my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this grief. I wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Sources in West Bengal Police say that the preliminary enquiry suggests that the driver of the vehicle could not spot the parked truck as he was probably influenced by the alcohol and was driving the vehicle at high speed and collided with it.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to extend all help to the family of the deceased and promote road safety. “Deeply pained at reported death of 18 people and 5 others injured in Nadia District after the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a truck parked on the side of road. Expect all efforts to the family of the deceased and injured. Need to promote road safety,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, the state government announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each family of the deceased and the Nadia district magistrate Shashank Sethi in presence of the TMC ministers Jyotipriyo Mallick and Ujjal Biswas handed over cheques to three families in the premises of Saktinagar district hospital as three dead persons were residents of Nadia district.
Other families were also given cheques by the district magistrate of North 24 Parganas as the TMC minister Mr Mallick escorted the dead bodies to Baghda police station area as the family members sought to carry the dead bodies in their area from Saktinagar hospital during autopsy.
As the tension grew in the Saktinagar district hospital after the family members raised allegations against hospital authorities of negligence, a large section of police reached the hospital to contain any untoward incident. Later, SP, Krishnagar Police District Ishani Paul, DM, Nadia and other officials reached the hospital and monitored the situation.
Later, TMC minister Ujjal Biswas, TMC Nadia North district president Jayanta Sarkar, TMC Krishnagar Town president Sisir Karmakar and BJP media convenor Sandip Majumdar also reached the hospital and monitored the situation.
Tags: #TragicRoadAccident #Nadia #JyotipriyoMallick #UjjalBiswas #MamataBanerjee
