Published On : Fri, Mar 3rd, 2017

Road contractor booked for commuter’s death on Narendra Nagar Ring Road

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Nagpur: Avoiding the safety measures cost dearly to an NMC road contractor who was booked for negligence causing death of a commuter. The commuter Ashish Raut has slipped on the unprotected road and died.

A private firm, owned by Pankaj Ashok Asthankar, had undertaken cement concretization of tar roads on the Narendra Nagar ring road, as a part of NMC’s cement concretization of the Ring Road.

At around 6.45pm on February 24, Ashish Raut, 32, who was riding a two-wheeler on Narendra Nagar ring road patch between Shatabdi Nagar Square and Suyog Nagar Square, had met with an accident after his vehicle got skidded. The passers-by had rushed him to Orange City Hospital and Research Institute where he succumbed to his injuries.

As per norms, he should have closed the road for traffic and to ensure safety of motorists, traffic wardens should have been deployed besides erecting barricades. But Asthankar ignored this and as a result, Raut’s two-wheeler had skidded and he sustained serious injuries.

The bad condition of the stretch is being blamed for the accident. Earlier, the Ajni police had lodged a case of accidental death. But the traffic police carried out a probe into Raut’s death and found that he died due to negligence on the part of the road contractor.

DSP (traffic) Smartna Patil said Asthankar, 29, a resident of Gopal Nagar, was booked under Section 304A (culpable homicide, or causing death due to negligence. Senior police inspector (Ajni PS) Shailesh Sankhe said no arrest has been made so far as investigation is still in progress. He, however, was quick to add that the section slapped against Asthankar is a bailable offence.

Late last year, the NMC had launched road works at 32 locations. Most works are being executed at a snail’s pace, disrupting traffic and posing a threat to motorists. The traffic police department has, hence, decided to take action against private firms that are not carrying out the works as per guidelines. In December last year, the traffic police had booked three contractors, including one engaged in Nagpur Metro Rail works, for violating norms.

Even after issuing stringent guidelines for contractors carrying out road works in state’s second capital by commissioner of police K Venkatesh, private firms are still playing with the lives of motorists, it is been observed.