PERNEM
In a tragic accident, a home guard attached to Panaji traffic cell and his father died, while two persons from Sindhudurga were seriously injured after a trailer carrying heavy iron poles turned turtle on the NH17 at Nhaibag-Porsakade in Pernem on Sunday morning.
The accident led to agitated locals blocking vehicular traffic, disrupting traffic on both the sides of the highway for about four hours. Some locals, who were agitated, allegedly pelted stones at a fire tender for arriving late at the accident spot.
The agitators did not allow the police to shift the bodies till Tourism Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar arrived at the site.
According to Pernem Police, a trailer (MH-46-H-5445) carrying heavy iron poles was proceeding from Panaji towards Maharashtra when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it turned turtle near a sharp turn at Nhaibag-Porsakade at about 10 am.
Police said the iron poles came crashing on Mohan Parsekar (59) and his son, Ritesh (26), both from Korgao, and Sujay Shinde and Mahadev Bawkar from Sindhudurga, who were standing by the roadside. Ritesh, a home guard attached to Panaji traffic cell, and his father Mohan, who was a mason, died on the spot, informed the police.
Police further said the other two -- Mahadev and Sujay -- who were standing on the road with their two-wheeler (MH-07-AF-1751) suffered serious injuries. Mahadev’s leg came under the two-wheeler and it had to be amputated, while Sujay sustained grievous injuries. Both were rushed to GMC Hospital in Bambolim and their condition was stated to be critical. The trailer driver fled from the site. Police added that a rickshaw (GA-11-T-0105), two-wheelers (MH-07-AA-2282), (GA-07-H-9905) and (GA-11-C-0348) and a truck were also damaged in the
accident.
Tourism Minister Azgaonkar rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the crowd saying that he won’t hesitate to revolt against the government for people’s safety.
Speaking to reporters, Azgaonkar said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has convened a meeting of officials concerned to install dividers along the highway at Pernem on Monday. “If the government fails to install dividers, I will block the road on Tuesday along with the locals,” he warned.
Defending the delay in arriving at the accident spot, fire official Shripad Gawas said they were informed late about the accident.
SP Karthik Kashyap, DySP Mahesh Gaonkar, Pernem PI Uttam Raut Dessai, Traffic PI Sachin Narvekar, Pernem Deputy Collector Sudhir Kerkar, Pernem Mamlatdar Ishant Sawant also rushed
to the site and tried to pacify the agitators.
Former Shivsena State chief Upendra Gaonkar and former ZP member Deepak Kalangutkar also rushed to the site.
Former sarpanch Sharad Kudav said the residents had submitted memorandums to the authorities demanding dividers along the stretch of the road at Naibhag several times, but the authorities failed
to pay heed to their demands. “The tourism minister should pay attention atleast now,”
he added.
