A motorist in Bengaluru has suffered grievous injuries after a hydraulic bolt used for the construction of the Koramangala-Ejipura Flyover fell on him.
At around 4.20 pm on Friday, 44-year-old Lawrence, a store manager at Titan Eye+ in CV Raman Nagar, was headed for a meeting. On his way, he was passing by Sony World Signal in Koramangala, when a hydraulic bolt, which was being fitted on pillar number 36 of the flyover fell on him.
Lawrence’s helmet cracked and the hydraulic bolt injured his skull. His wound began bleeding profusely and Lawrence became unconscious within minutes. The traffic police, who were at the spot, rushed Lawrence to St John’s Hospital, located a few metres away.
Speaking to TNM, Lawrence’s brother-in-law, Sylvester, told TNM that he is currently in the ICU and has been kept under observation.
“He has rib fractures and also injuries on his head. The doctors said that the head injury caused a cardiac arrest. They have kept him under observation and he is still drifting in and out of consciousness. They told us that he has a 50-50 chance of surviving. The hydraulic bolt was huge and when it fell from the top, his helmet cracked. This is serious negligence on behalf of the BBMP officials and the contractor,” Sylvester said.
BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said that the contract for the construction of the flyover was given to SIMPLEX Infrastructures, and that an inquiry would be conducted regarding the incident.
“I spoke with the doctors at St John’s last night (Friday) and have asked them to provide him with the best possible treatment,” he said.
Family members of Lawrence have accused the contractor and BBMP of negligence. They have filed a complaint with the Koramangala Police. An FIR has been registered under section 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC against nine people. The acused named in the FIR include Naskar, Project Manager of SIMPLEX Infrastructures; Amblin Mitra, Commercial In-charge; Arun Hegdekar, Administrator; Kamal Sardar, safety engineer; Paraman, site enginner; Faisal, labour in-charge; Ajmath Hussain, contractor of SIMPLEX Infrastructures; work incharge and security at the site and unnamed BBMP officials.
“This could have happened to anyone. We want the police to investigate this and take action against whoever is responsible. When we went to the hospital on Friday, the contractors and BBMP officials had come to us and were apologizing. We think that they did not want us to file a police complaint. But we want to pursue this legally,” Sylvester said.