Delhi: Car parked to feed pigeons on flyover causes fatal crash

NEW DELHI: A woman was killed and her husband and daughter injured on the Lajpat Nagar flyover when their scooter was hit by a BSF bus on Wednesday. They were overtaking a parked car that had stopped to feed pigeons on the flyover. The scooter driver was in a hurry to admit his daughter, who was having a fit, to the Kalavati Hospital in central Delhi.
The family members of the victim and a few eyewitnesses alleged that the car driver had stopped the vehicle on the flyover haphazardly and was feeding a flock of pigeons when the accident took place.The driver left immediately after the incident. Locals told TOI that every day 20-25 cars and two-wheelers stop on the Lajpat Nagar flyover to feed pigeons.
Police caught the bus driver from the scene and booked him for rash and negligent driving. The incident took place around 11am.
Nilofer (28) and her husband Zamil Alam (39) had got a call from their daughter Khushi’s school that she had fallen sick. They took her on a scooter and rushed towards the hospital, where Khushi was already undergoing treatment. “I was driving on the left side of the road to avoid traffic, but found a car parked on the flyover. Since I was in a hurry to reach the hospital, I tried to overtake the vehicle when the bus hit me from behind,” said Alam.
Eyewitnesses said that while Alam and Khushi fell away from the bus, Nilofer came under the front wheel of the bus, and her head was crushed. Khushi miraculously escaped with scratches.
The bus driver, head constable Ramesh Chand Sharma, later told the cops that he tried to apply the brakes when he saw the scooter swerve towards the bus, but the woman came under the wheels in a matter of few seconds. Sharma said that he was heading to Pragati Maidan from their camp in Tigri.
“We arrested the bus driver from the spot and registered a case of causing death due to negligence and negligent driving against him,” said Chinmoy Biswal, DCP, South-East. The bus was later impounded.
The victim was rushed in a CATS ambulance to the AIIMS trauma centre where Nilofer was declared dead on arrival.
Her family members said that Zamil has been inconsolable since the incident. “Khushi has been suffering from bouts of fits since she was two years old. She would often have serious bouts and get admitted to the hospital,” said Asraf Ali, Zamil’s cousin. Their other child is also admitted to a hospital.
Commuters using the Lajpat Nagar flyover have often claimed that the flock of pigeons not only causes a nuisance, but also pose a threat to bikers who try to cut through to the right lane to avoid being hit by the birds.