As the week-long road safety programme came to an end on Wednesday, a 10-year-old boy was crushed to death under a city bus near the Hampankatta Junction the same day.
According to the Mangaluru Traffic West Police, Class 4 student Anand Raj was on his way to Ganapati Primary School, along with his elder brother and his sister, when the bus hit him as he was climbing the median at the junction of P.M. Rao Road and K.S. Rao Road.
Rita Pramila, a cobbler, who runs a shop near the accident spot, said the three children had got down near the Old Bus Stand. “I saw them holding each other hands and walking across the road.” The bus was coming from Kunjathbail.
Bus commuters attacked the driver and handed him over to the police, she said.
The body of Anand Raj was kept at the Government Wenlock Hospital’s mortuary. Anand Raj was the fourth child among the five children of Raja Manikya, a cobbler, and Sumitra, a homemaker.
All the five children are students of Ganapati Primary School.
“I left the house early and I was in my shop in Kankanady when I heard about this accident,” said Mr. Manikya as he broke down.
A teacher from Ganapati Primary School said that the increase in traffic on the K.S. Rao Road was a cause for concern.
“We have to wait for 10 minutes during peak hours in the morning to cross the road. When we have problems, imagine the plight of our students.”
The absence of a footpath was also highlighted after the accident.
With no designated bus stop, buses stop randomly at various points between City Centre Mall and Hampankatta Junction. The movement of traffic was unregulated between the mall and the junction, she said.
- Anand Raj was a Class 4 student of Ganapati Primary School
Bus commuters attacked the driver and handed him over to the police
