Tree Falls On Bike; Man Dies, Daughter Critical
The deceased, Sudhir Kumar, was on his way to drop his daughter, Priya, at her NGO office in Amar Colony when the falling tree hit them at B Block near Paras Chowk. A native of Aligarh in UP, Kumar worked as a shelter home caretaker and lived in Tughlaqabad with his wife, two daughters and a son.
Hemant Kumar Tiwari, DCP (southeast) said, "A JCB was arranged and the two individuals were extricated and shifted to hospital." Kumar succumbed to his injuries and Priya is being treated for a fracture in the right pelvic region.
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Prachi Sharma, 26, who rushed to the accident site, recalled, "The girl screamed and begged to be saved for almost two hours it took to extricate them." Another witness, Ram Ji Mal, 55, added, "Around 250 people tried to push the tree but little could be done."
Sitting outside the emergency department at Safdarjung Hospital, the inconsolable Sunita, Kumar's wife, appeared incapable of even forming sentences. Amid agonising screams, she muttered, "We were preparing to get my elder daughter married in Nov.
Who will do that now?" Kumar's mother, Sheelwati, sat mutely next to Sunita, her cheeks wet with tears.
The incident led to an exchange of political barbs. Calling it a "preventable tragedy" stemming from "lack of foresight, infrastructure readiness, and decisive governance", Atishi, leader of the opposition in Delhi Assembly, wrote to chief minister Rekha Gupta demanding PWD minister Parvesh Verma's removal as minister.
"The entire city is looking towards you to take action against those responsible for these deaths," Atishi said in her letter.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal remarked on X: "In just a few months, see what BJP has done to Delhi." AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj also claimed on X that two dozen Delhiites had lost their lives to rain so far. "But the BJP govt is unmoved," he alleged.
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav similarly maintained, "Neither the BJP govt nor MCD showed any sense of purpose to prune dangerously hanging branches or chop down vulnerable trees.
Such incidents happened in the past too but govt learnt no lessons."
Terming the death as "unfortunate", Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva insisted the BJP govt treated such incidents with "seriousness and sensitivity". "AAP leaders were insensitive while in power, and now as the opposition, they've become experts in insensitive politics," Sachdeva said.
Later, CM Gupta instructed all departments and official agencies in the city to urgently address trees that posed a threat to citizens. She said that strong winds and heavy rainfall significantly increased the risk of accidents, obstruction of traffic and damage to public utilities such as power lines. She also ordered the designation of responsible officers to monitor and ensure compliance with safety standards.
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