Jaipur accident forces authorities to act; is it too little too late?

aipur: A 26-year-old woman and her 8-month-old daughter in Jaipur died waiting for help on a busy road after their bike was hit by a speeding truck. The traumatised father and the young son who survived, stood by crying for help, only to see several cars and vehicles pass them by without offering any assistance.

Shocking CCTV pictures of Kanhaiya Lal and his four-year-old son desperately crying for help minutes after he, his wife and two children were run over by a speeding truck in Jaipur's Ghat ki Guni tunnel show several vehicles passing by them.

"People just went past us and no one stopped," said Kanhaiya Lal, victim. Only after an exhausted Kanhiya Lal collapsed, did Ranjeet, an employee from the tunnel's maintenance company saw the CCTV footage and alerted the police. But by then it was too late for Kanhaiya's 26-year-old wife and daughter and they both died on the spot.

"When I saw the footage, I realised something had gone wrong so I called the police and ambulance but the woman and her child could not be saved," said Ranjeet.

"We have flashed the number to trace the truck. Citizens also need to come forward in a case like this and take the needy to the hospital," said Lata Manoj, SP traffic. Kanhaiya Lal was heading to his in-laws' home on Sunday afternoon when the incident took place. He and his son barely managed to escape.

It took this accident for the Jaipur administration to start manning the entrance to the 3-month-old tunnel in which two-wheelers are not allowed to enter. "No one stopped us from entering the tunnel. It was a free passage," said Kanhaiya.

However, the big questions that follow this incident are:

1. Why were two wheelers being allowed inside the tunnel despite a ban on them?

2. What sort of awareness generation programmes were undertaken before opening the tunnel?

3. Why did people who walked and drove past a family in crisis do nothing to help?

"We told them an awareness programme for people nearby was necessary. Nobody paid any attention to it," Mridul Bhasin, trustee, Muskaan, voluntary organisation working on traffic issues, Jaipur

"It is a social responsibility of everyone to help the needy. People should be sensitive enough to come forward and help," said Woman and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath. While the accident raises questions on poor enforcement of rules, it also points fingers at the people who insensitively looked the other way.