Rod pierces boy’s leg, cousin hurt in Lenin Sarani crash
Times of India | 29 March 2024
Kolkata: A 15-month-old child and his 12-year-old cousin, who were on Thursday morning playing on the pavement outside a multi-storied office complex on Lenin Sarani near Moulali, were severely injured when a mini-truck drove up the steep incline from the basement parking area and hit the closed gates. The gate, in the impact, crashed on the children, with a portion of a rod piercing the leg of the older kid, Ajay Sardar, and injuring the younger one, Sonu.
Police said the driver might have failed to negotiate the slope and the incline could have cut off his vision of the children. This is the same spot in Aug 2022, when an eight-year-old girl, who was sleeping on the pavement, was killed in an almost identical accident.
The driver on Thursday was arrested from the spot. The two children were taken to NRS Hospital, where they were admitted. Doctors said the children were out of danger.
A witness told TOI the children played on the pavement regularly. “Our children play, and even sleep, there but move away whenever a vehicle enters or leaves the building’s parking lot. On Thursday, no one alerted them. The truck drove up so fast the children could not run away. I carried the smaller one, bleeding in my arms, to the hospital,” said a local, Santu Sardar. The people in the area blamed the building guard and the truck driver.
“The guard, too, was responsible as his duty is to guide vehicles safely out of the building. He is being questioned. All guards there have been told to be more vigilant while escorting vehicles in and out. They have also been tasked with keeping the area outside the parking lot free of pavement dwellers,” said an officer.