Pvt buses override parking ban

A constable was deployed in the area to ensure that buses are not parked along the road. However, no action was taken against the encroachments which have eaten up crucial carriagewidth of the road, and the autorickshaws parked obstructively along it.

Ingeshwar Rao Battala, a 35-year-old resident of the slums at Dandekar Bridge on Sinhagad Road, was killed on the spot when a private luxury bus ran over him opposite the main entrance of Nehru Stadium. The mishap took place around 7.30 pm last evening.

Ingeshwar Rao, was walking down toward Swargate with his wife Shakuntala (30), when the bus knocked him down from behind and ran over him. He died on the spot while Shakuntala also suffered some injuries, police said.

Passers by reacted violantly to the mishap as the glasses fit on the windows of the private bus smashed immediately after Ingeshwar Rao was crushed under its wheels.

The bus driver, Kasim Abdul Rashid Shahid (32) from Bangalore, has been arrested by Swargate police and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The road which links Jedhe Chowk with Sarasbaug has, in the last five years, turned into a virtual death trap due to heavy vehicular traffic.

The narrow road provides access to various vantage points such as Swargate State Transport Bus Stand, Pune Municipal Transport termini and Sarasbaug. Due to this, the number of vehicles plying on this road is quite high.

A major PMT bus stand is also located on it and several private buses are parked along the road near Natraj Hotel, a major pick up stand for many bus service operators, at any given time. Besides, three-seater as well as six-seater autorickshaws, are also parked along the road. Moreover, the encroachments which have come up along the road eat up its carriage width causing frequent congestion.

The road was widened and parking of private buses along the road was banned about two years back. However, the widened part of the road has been occupied by several handcarts.