Boy playing cricket dies at NH-24 widening site as barrier falls on him

GHAZIABAD: A 12-year-old boy was crushed under a cement barrier at an under-construction portion of NH-24 under Khoda police station on Saturday morning while he was playing cricket with his two friends.
The boy, identified as Ishtekhar, was rushed to Max Hospital in Vaishali, but was declared dead on arrival. On the basis of his uncle’s complaint, an FIR has been registered for causing death due to negligence.

The boy’s mother, Jahana Khatun, and elder sister Zainab, work at a factory in Noida’s Sector 128. His father, Amzad Ali, had died two years ago due to a health-related problem.

Ishtekhar’s uncle Riyaz Ali said, “The accident took place around 8.30 am on Saturday. He was playing cricket with his friends at the road side on NH-24. The mishap took place when he was trying to find the ball under the cement barrier which was not kept properly. It had fallen on his upper portion of the body.”

Ajay, Ishtekhar’s neighbour in Lok Priya Vihar in Khoda, said, “The other boys present at the spot spotted a crane and requested its driver to help them in rescuing Ishtekhar. They helped them in doing and by the time he could be taken out, cops had also reached the spot. He was admitted to the Max Hospital nearly an hour later.”

SHO, Khoda, Dharmendra Kumar said, “An FIR has been registered against the agency which is carrying out the expansion work of NH-24. We will get in touch with the NHAI to find out who are directly involved, as many a time private agencies are given contracts to carry out the work.”

A senior NHAI official refuted the allegations that the child died due to negligence on their part.

“Our initial inquiry has revealed that the children were not playing at the site, as is being claimed. They were trying to steal iron rods protruding out of the slabs. Each slab weighs around 2 tonnes and could be moved around with the help of a crane only. Falling to one side on its own seems quite impossible.”

Ishtekhar was third among his five siblings. His family hails from Bihar’s Bhagalpur district.