Heartless Mumbai

Mumbai's reputation for large-heartedness and willingness to help people genuinely in need took a severe beating on Sunday when Chinmay Bedekar, in his early 20s, and Budharam Tak, in his 40s, lost their lives after meeting with an accident near Mulund on the Eastern Express Highway. For 45 minutes, policemen flagged down four-wheelers passing by requesting occupants to take the injured duo to a hospital. People did slow down, some even stopping to ask what had happened but, shockingly, each one left after being told what was expected of them.

If this has not made your blood boil, what follows surely will. One of the vehicles flagged down was a police vehicle.


Mumbai has no heart

“Minutes after the accident, a police Sumo heading towards Thane stopped at the spot. The driver stepped out to check what was happening. But when we asked him to take the victims to a hospital, he offered lame excuses and left. Since he was a cop, we could not even force him to help us,” said Rajiv Sharma, a Thane resident who was on his way to work in Mumbai but had stopped to try and help the victims.

The accident took place around 11.50 am. According to witnesses, Bedekar, a 3rd year civil engineering student of Datta Meghe college, was making his way towards Mumbai on his bike when all of a sudden Tak, employed with Thane Mental Hospital, came right in front of the vehicle. Unable to dodge the pedestrian, Bedekar rammed into him. “The biker (Bedekar) was flung towards the service road while the pedestrian was thrown in another direction. The bike skid a good 30 feet and jumped on to the service road,” said Vaishali Girgaonkar, who was passing by.

Two traffic constables posted in the vicinity rushed to the spot. “I sent a message to our control room asking for an ambulance. After that, I was busy stopping passers-by from crowding near the victims,” said traffic constable Bhimaji Hinge while his colleague kept others motorists away from the accident spot.

According to doctors, the few minutes just after an accident are crucial. If victims are rushed to a hospital immediately and treated for their wounds, they have a good chance of surviving.

But for the next 45 minutes, Bedekar, a resident of Thane, lay face down on the side of the highway and Tak in the middle of the road as the traffic constables tried to flag down drivers of four-wheelers.

Several bikers stopped at the accident spot but couldn't do much except call their friends for help.

Prakash Wadkar, a resident of Kalwa, who was on his way to work on a two-wheeler, said, “When I reached the spot, I was told that the victims had been lying on the road for almost 20 minutes. Since I do not know much about ambulance services in the city, I called up some of friends and told them to send an ambulance. Along with a few other bikers, I also tried stopping tempos and cars passing by to rush the victims to a hospital but none of them stopped.” Actually, several did stop but only long enough to see what was happening, speeding away as soon as they were asked to take the victims to a hospital.

“It was very frustrating as none of the four-wheeler drivers wanted to help. And in all this, the ambulance (called by the policemen, was nowhere in sight,” he said.

It was only around 12.40 pm that they spotted an ambulance passing by. “We forced the driver to stop and take the victims to Thane Civil Hospital,” Wadkar said.

But it was too late, Bedekar bled to death. The 45-minute delay proved dear. “When I had checked Bedekar earlier, he was breathing. But after reaching the hospital, he was declared dead,” said an irked Wadkar.

Tak fought for his life for a few hours in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries.

Hinge, who accompanied the victims to the hospital, was shocked by what had happened. “I did my best. I couldn't have done more than what I did back there,” he said.

Officials at Naupada police station confirmed that there was a delay in taking the victims to a hospital. “We got an anonymous call around 1 pm. By the time we reached the spot, the victims had been taken to the hospital,” said sub-inspector Yuvraj Patil.

Pedestrians should have used bridge

Residents near the spot blamed the accident on lethargy on the part of pedestrians. While there is a pedestrian bridge at the spot, not many use it with most people preferring to cross the highway.

Pradip Joshi, who lives near the accident spot, said, "Had Tak used the bridge, the accident would not have taken place. It's about time pedestrians are fined for crossing the busy highway."

Source: www.mumbaimirror.com