He died but gave life to his passengers

Blueline drivers have always drawn public ire, but Surender Pal Singh will be remembered as one who had died saving the lives of his passengers.

Blueline drivers have always drawn public ire, but Surender Pal Singh will be remembered as one who had died saving the lives of his passengers. Had he applied the brakes a little late, the entire bus would have come under 400 tonnes of steel and concrete, which Surender took upon himself and died. Eyewitnesses said Surender’s presence of mind to apply the brakes in time stopped the toll at two.

“The passengers escaped with minor injuries because of the fact that only the front portion of the bus had come under the launcher,” said Rajesh, an eyewitness.

Surender had been operating on the Jheel-Jai Mata Market route for the last seven years.

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“Fortunately, it was Sunday. This place gets crowded with schoolchildren at that time of the morning,” said Sanjay Gehlot, another eyewitness.

At Surender’s home in Kanhaiya Nagar of west Delhi, his two-month-old son slept peacefully through the sobs of his mother, unaware his world has fallen apart. Surender had named his baby boy Yogesh just last Saturday.

While his 26-year-old wife Kavita longed to see him one last time, Surender’s body awaited a postmortem at the Lok Nayak Hospital, which will be conducted on Monday.

“What do we do with a postmortem? Why can’t they just hand over the body over to us,” asked Surender’s elder brother Ramesh.

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Back home, his mother Kela Devi recounted: “My son couldn’t even have his morning tea and breakfast. He got a call to report early and left at 5.30 am. He will never come back now.” The family said it was after four years of their marriage that Surender and Kavita had been blessed with a child.

Surender had lost his father very early in life. He could not finish his education as he had to take up a job. He had been in the driving job for the last 12 years.

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