Nagpur: Widow to move HC over man’s death after ambulance got stuck in ‘pothole’

NAGPUR: On September 2 last year, an ambulance taking an ailing Bhushan Tol from New Manish Nagar had got stuck in a “crater-like pothole” on the way to a hospital in Dhantoli. Bhushan was later declared dead within couple of hours of reaching the hospital.
His 32-year-old widow Amruta is now set to file an intervention application in the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court into a criminal writ petition, seeking action against the state for leaving the ditch unattended.
The ambulance, which had started from the residence of Tol family at 1.15am, managed to reach the hospital, which is only eight kms away, after a delay of around one-and-a-half hours. The ambulance could be freed from the “mucky pothole” after a struggle of almost 30 minutes which allegedly proved fatal for Bhushan.
In the latest case which was reported on Sunday, 55-year-old Indukala Chauhan was injured after she fell off from the bike of her son Sanjay who failed to spot a pothole on Hazaripahad road. The woman was later declared dead.
After TOI reported on February 12 about Gittikhadan police’s failure to register an offence in this case as per the high court order, it’s reliably learnt that process has started for filing an FIR against the concerned contractor and NMC official.
The so-called pothole that had trapped the ambulance in which Bhushan was being taken has left a family of three dependent women, including two elderly widows, without the sole bread-earner.
Amruta, now the third widow in the family, somehow kept the family of her two children, mother-in-law and mother afloat with a clerical job after her husband’s death. But with a salary of Rs10,000, she is struggling to make ends meet.
After few days of the incident, the high court had taken suo motu cognisance of TOI’s report about rising accidental injuries and deaths due to bad roads and potholes. The court converted the report into a criminal petition.
Amruta, with the help of her brother-in-law lawyer Shashikant and his associate lawyer Anil Kumar, decided to seek justice as an intervener. Amruta has pointed out the trauma her ailing husband and the rest of family and friends faced after the ambulance got stuck in the roadside ditch, which she has mentioned in the affidavit as ‘pothole’.
The ambulance’s heavy tyres got stuck in the roadside ditch which had become mucky and slippery due to rains, Amruta has stated in her affidavit.