My household help walks in, shivering and grabbing a glass of water. She speaks in her Bihari accent, “Bhaiya raura soch naikhin skt ki ham ka dekhle hai. Ham hil gail hai.” She describes what she just witnessed. A mother from a nearby society, with her two children and the maid, were trying to cross the traffic light intersection opposite Boulevard & Espacia gates. One of the kids is in the mother’s arms while the other is with the maid. A speeding crane truck hits the maid with the child, and they die on the spot. As the crowd gathers around the bodies, there is blood all over the street. While people are taking videos of the scene, the devastated mother is howling and holding her child in her arms, helpless.
If you are one of those whose maid walked in with a video of the scene that was circulated around Hajipur, I’m sure you would be shaken up, too. After the streets were cleaned up, a small protest was held that evening, and then life moved on.
Across our society is probably the most unsafe crossing in Noida (in my opinion). A long crossing with multiple light combinations; no speed breaker; nor any speed bumps; heavy commercial vehicle speeding as if nothing can stop them.
How many such incidents do we need for it to knock some sense into us to use the overhead pedestrian bridge? The authorities are to blame as well for giving such easy access for crossing the road to pedestrians and also for not installing an escalator on the overbridge.
It’s funny, sometimes we need to create a situation that forces people to take a safer way to save their own life. For the record, my household help still crosses the street through those lights and speeding vehicles.
