3 injured, property worth Rs 15 lakh destroyed
TEAM HERALD
PONDA: Three persons were injured and property worth an estimated Rs 15 lakh was destroyed, when a Belgaum-bound KTC bus rammed into six kiosks at the old Ponda bus stand on Monday morning.
The Ponda Police has booked an offence against the bus driver and according to reliable sources; the KTC has suspended the bus driver in this connection.
According to Ponda police, the accident occurred at about 6.30 am when the Margao-Ponda-Belgaum KTC bus rammed into six kiosks after it brushed against a private bus at the Dada Vaidya Chowk junction.
Incidentally, there is a taxi and motorcycle pilot stand in front of the several kiosks along the road and luckily, the kiosks were closed at the time of the incident.
A pedestrian, Munappa Yelati, was injured after he was knocked down while a rickshaw driver and a motorcycle pilot got injured while they were running to safety. Yelati has been admitted to the GMC, while the other two were discharged after treatment at the Ponda Sub District Hospital.
A taxi driver, Anil Morajkar, was also lucky to have escaped the mishap.
“I reach the taxi stand everyday at about by 6.30 am and the stand is right in front of the six kiosks that were damaged today. To my luck, I reached the stand late today as I had gone to drop a customer,” said Morajkar.
Transport and PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar, Law Commission Chairman Adv Narendra Savoikar, PMC Deputy Chairperson Shantaram Kolvekar and PMC Councillors visited the site to take stock of the situation.
The PWD minister has assured to provide assistance from the CM’s Relief Fund and even distributed Rs 75,000 to the affected persons as a temporary measure.
“The estimate loss is around Rs 15 lakh. The kiosks owners have been given Rs 10,000 each, whereas the injured persons were given Rs 5,000 each. This immediate relief has been given jointly on behalf of all the PMC councillors, Ponda MLA and me. After the incident, I spoke to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and he has assured to provide help through the CM’s Relief Fund,” said Dhavalikar.
The Ponda BJP Block Committee also distributed financial assistance to the affected persons. “Each kiosks owner has been given Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500 each to the injured persons. After visiting the site, we thought of providing some help to the affected persons and we will follow up with the state government for timely assistance to the affected under the CM’s Relief Fund,” said Adv Savoikar.
