After auto-driver dies by drowning under waterlogged Minto Bridge in Delhi, kin seek answer from government

After a person was found dead under the Minto Bridge which was waterlogged since Sunday early morning after heavy rains lashed the capital, his family members questioned the management in the national capital that has failed to ensure the maintenance of drainage systems so that water doesn't accumulate on road after heavy rains.

New Delhi: Kundan, who came to New Delhi in March seeking greener pastures and slept almost every night in his tempo rickshaw, died in it on Sunday when heavy rains lashed the capital and he failed to swim to safety as a major road in the heart of the city was completely submerged drowning even a large DTC bus.

"It was not a rural backyard, it was not a village, it is in Delhi where his tempo turned into his grave. How?" questioned his family member.

Fifty-six-year-old Kundan had come down from Uttarakhand in March, just before the lockdown snapped all ties. He practically lived in his tempo.

"Now his two daughters aged around 21 and 12 would never be able to see their father again. A resident of Pithoragarh, Kundan moved to Delhi to earn money for his family and drove his cousin's tempo," said the family member.

On Sunday's overnight rain there was water logging at Minto Bridge underpass here, his tempo got stuck and despite struggling to come out he couldn't, firefighter who rushed to rescue said.

The fire department rescued a bus driver and a conductor, but auto driver Kundan somehow couldn't be saved. His body was pulled out when the water subsided.

"This isn't the first time Minto bridge underpass is submerged in water. The authorities, the government failed to take any corrective measures. The result is that my cousin is dead. Who would look after his two daughters one of whom is of marriageable age now? I want an answer to this from the government," said Pritam Singh, cousin of the deceased.

Kundan drove Pritam's tempo in Delhi for the last four months.

"He, it seems, died of drowning. No external injury marks on his person. Inquest proceedings u/s 174 CrPC are underway," said a senior police officer.

"The tempo was used to transport canteen goods for CRPF. He used to sleep inside the tempo," Pritam said.

The Minto road underpass has over the years seen waterlogging where even buses have submerged.

IANS