Faridabad Underpass Tragedy: Civic Apathy Or Recklessness Behind Two Deaths? | Watch Debate

you're watching times now live I'm STI josi a new political storm has erupted in harana over the death of two Bank employees last night a bank manager and cashier died when their car got stuck in a water logged underpass according to reports the incident unfolded at around 11:00 p.m. in the flooded Old faridabad Railway underpass the two men were going home from gurugram when their car got trapped Reports say they managed to come out of the car but couldn't swim and drowned the first body was recovered minutes after the tragedy while the second body was recovered at 5 a.m. this morning here's what the police are [Music] saying branch manager sector hfc B let's now take a look at a ground report on what really happened I'm currently standing at a police station in faridabad and behind me you can see this blue SUV that got submerged in water logged under pass yesterday leading to death of two Bank employees now on the front seat of the car you can see this is their tiffen and this shows a very sad reality both of them were returning from work they uh worked in a bank uh in gurugram and they were coming from gurugram to faridabad when this incident in fact took place now I'm currently at the police and the big question is who is responsible for the death of virage and punes uh the family is saying that the entire area that led to the uh underpass was not barricaded by the police and nobody stopped these deceased and this car from going to that area but police is now saying that in fact there were uh some officials there who tried to stop this SUV car from going to that locality but the car did not stop but big question here is that right now we can see that there uh is barricading at the stop but what about last night when this incident took place well in a case of Civic EP two Bank employees have lost their life after drowning in a water loged underpass that you can see behind me this incident happened in fact at 11:00 last night and these two Bank employees were coming from this side of the road and as they took left from this side there you can see there is the water loged underpass that you can see on your screens and they they did not anticipate that this would be completely filled with water and hence uh though they tried to come out of their cars they managed to do that but they could not swim and get out of this water field uh under Park is what we're getting to know and even though right now the police has barad uh this entire area the locals as well as the fam saying that this is too little too late because last night there was no barricading and clearly this underpass was completely filled with water that led to death of these two Bank employees in fact we have a witness here who uh in fact also managed to bring out the uh victims last night their bodies last night forp [Music] [Music] as investigation into the case continues politics has begun the Congress and rjd have slammed harana government saying this tragedy is a result of unplanned construction by the ruling party meanwhile the BJP has head back accusing opposition of playing politics over dead bodies the BJP say smart City C what is the condition of Delhi which is ruled by the am admi party how many places are flooded you have a similar situation happening the in the capital of India and what is happening in bangaluru they never ask questions but when an election comes then it's negligence the police authorities are clearly saying they were told and warned not to go into that passage they did it's an accident it's a tragedy we regret it we believe we should see that the families are taken care of there are many uh situations like this in Delhi and how many of them have don't make news because primarily when it's election time this becomes news let's open this up and let's go across to our guests we're joined by prbl Singh political analyst we have Vijay Kosik with US Congress leader and Dr sudhir Krishna former secretary Ministry of Urban Development I want to bring uh bring in Pablo Singh first is this smart city that's what the opposition is asking I think so I see different components in this you know so number one is what has happened is very sad uh we've lost two innocent Souls because of like your reporter rightly called out it's Civic apathy now uh we need to ensure that the administration the local Administration is held account accountable now when I hear some of the politicians say that there were cops on duty and they did stop the SUV but it still uh decided to you know ignore the warning I'd like to add here that whenever there is a VIP movement and cops are deployed to stop the traffic at that time the cops ensure that not one vehicle crosses the barricade or a VIP movement but when it's a matter of life and death when the administration should ensure that the you know the residents of the area they they should be safe in a flood like situation and in that situation they are saying that we probably had some cops there and the cops tried to stop the SUV but the SUV ignored the warning Whenever there is a VIP movement do you hear any such incident that there was a VIP movement the traffic was stopped but few SUVs decided to ignore the warning it never happens like that so it clearly is a mistake on the part of the local administration number two I would like to call out here all the opposition leaders that are now blaming the government are equally responsible because as as an opposition they have not been responsible enough why do they always start putting you know uh pointing the finger towards the government when some tragedy like this happens and why do they not do something before that as an opposition it is their duty to ensure something like this does not happen government is notame bar many represent the opposition to the admin now this is also a call-in show call in show our viewers our viewers are calling us in they they want they want their voices to be heard since it's a case of Civic apathy and you know it's not just faridabad or not just happening in harana people have lost their lives due to Civic apathy across the country Let's uh go across to our first viewer Krishna is joining us from Mumbai go ahead good evening good evening uh this is regarding the of the municipal corporations and now one what this is what you call Smart City a smart City can become a smart City only if you have smart people living in that if when there is when a person knows that there under underpass with full of water what business did you have to take a car into do that I no it's I'm very sorry that he passed lost but same time if he had a little prudent a little more careful he could have saved not one but two lives that is his with all right thank you for putting forth your view we also have Sylvie joining us from the national capital please go ahead good evening yes yes somebody in the panel just now said when there is water why the person should go into the water the height of that is a viewer the viewer has not experienced what about leave alone faridabad he has not experienced this Delhi water logging yesterday I was going from V to French colony and back you know what kind of u-turns we have there was no light Miss Ari is one of the mlas over there all the all over the place these people claim so many things this politicians I was so scared night when he was returning at around 7:00 it was such a heavy traffic and there was no water was like it was raining cats and dogs what kind of capital city we have all right all right Sy the previous caller Krishna was from Mumbai so he certainly knows what water logging is he has experienced it I'm sure every single day uh when the monsoon season arrives and there could have been error in judgment as far as the two victims are concerned they would not have anticipated you know this is going to be the situation it was a job of the cops there to stop them from moving ahead we have Usha joining us from the national capital Usha g go ahead good evening good evening Madam Madam G us thank you Usha thank you so much thank you for joining us we also have Shanti joining us from Vijay go ahead good evening Namaste this is a very bad incident Madam we very sorry and this government must noty the areas and tring the people like this man and everything one thing only one everybody to anywhere this is the major public every time thank you very much Shanti SW G for calling us let me go across to Dr Krishna Dr Krishna uh most of the viewers are of the opinion that uh the victim should have avoided taking that path they should have taken one uturn but you know since uh this is a regular Affair almost uh happens every monsoon season is that the reason why they perhaps thought that uh you know maybe they won't end up being stuck in a situation and it was the job really of the cops who are now shocking responsibility to have stopped them well I think the the roads in goodam faridabad I mean I live in this area and they are so in such horrible condition and water is logging everywhere so if you start taking you know avoiding water then you will reach nowhere because what is everywhere and you don't know how deep the water is here or there and see and the Pooles are becoming bigger by the day because apparently the drains are all closed choked so the situation is to be tackled not only by police but by the municipal Corporation as well as by the road road owning agencies this underpass I do not know who owns this this is Municipal Corporation of vad or it may be you know maybe the government of Arana or maybe some other who I do not know who owns so the the the authority who owns this underpass and such underpasses or the road sections they also should take care that you know people are using their Ro police is the final a final agent of the government for stopping people and so on so we cannot load the police for you know preventing people from taking care of the Pooles and filled roads here and there that's all right they and they might have failed in their Duty in barricading that also is to be examined that is another matter but I don't think that the entire load can go on police the municipal administration of the city is absolutely the administration first of all is responsible if you know that such situation arises every time during every Monsoon why aren't better arrangements made why aren't we prepared number two like you said yes the cops should have also done their job better in terms of barricading why was there space for a vehicle to pass if the barricades were placed they were placed there for a reason and all those people who today are saying that the victim should have taken a different decision they should have avoided the path the route we don't know what situation they were in in the first place it could have been a error in their judgment is it fair to blame them that's also one of the questions we have Maya joining us from Hyderabad thank you very much for joining us good evening go ahead yeah good evening uh to everybody U actually it see I'm calling from Hyderabad it happens here also okay it happens everywhere but the point is like you know at 11 11 in the night or let's say 10:30 in the night if people people are uh you know just getting into water you know in dark you know that's also questionable you know I mean any sensible person wouldn't do that having said that it happens across every state and as you rightly put across saying that you know the government or the administration should take care of it and they should be well planned for the monsoon because they'll always all right but Maya you know there there's one thing that I don't agree with that people uh should not enter such a lane when it's dark and there's water because because like I said uh and I want to bring in prbl Singh G since we are living in such a situation where we face this situation every Monsoon people do not anticipate if it is going to be you know a situation where they could lose their lives isn't a job of the authorities to make it safe the job of the administration to make it safe why are we paying taxes for absolutely it is s Injustice to the taxpayer STI and it's very very unfair to say that those to you know take their vehicles to such areas they are not sensible enough that's very sad because we are talking about two people who just lost their lives so it is the duty of the administration to ensure that the people living in the area have a safe infrastructure available to them for which they are paying their taxes and second thing is like I earlier mentioned Whenever there is any VIP movement any such thing the cops ensure not one vehicle crosses the barrier H but here it's a flood situation For Heaven's Sake it's an emergency situation for the administration and I tell you STI the reality of goodg faridabad and most of the Metro cities right now I'm not you know I'm not here to pinpoint blame at any one political party but the reality is that you will find many more cops stationed outside each liquor went in G and faridabad then you could you know catering to the go ahead yeah man I'm in Deli since 1948 the bridge underge geted into of India I think thing and blame people for not if my house is on the other side what do do do I get a Bo amazing gentl and all these the same thing my my I I get I get the point that you're making unfortunately we uh have some network issues but I get your point completely thank you very much for joining us we also have uh Mr Shas joining us from Baroda go ahead ahead please yeah good evening STI see this is a chronic problem across all the states and unfortunately nobody is really I mean the administration is not taking care of such issues so sometimes I feel the politicians or the administration they are not at fault it is the citizens who who are at fault because if such thing happens people should just go to all the administrative office and stand there and make and and sure that all these works are carried out on SOS basis well people do register do register their protest Mr Shas through social media or uh through marches through protest what changes is the big question G GTI g g con okay you know I want to give the last word to Dr Krishna because Dr Krishna it's not like this is one isolated inent this is just one underpass and that to in faridabad where this incident has happened there are several such underpasses in the national capital also that have flooded during monsoon because uh we do not prepare ourselves before Monsoon and then to end up blaming the victim saying they should have taken a different part it was dark why did you enter the water why did you enter the underpass you risked your own life it is insensitive very absolutely I think the the government authorities have to be sensitized they have to be sensitive to the situation if it is raining heavily for continuously so many days and weeks I think a strategy has to be designed it doesn't seem that the administration the authorities who are there whether Municipal Corporation or whoever is involved this show they are showing concern about the normal life of the people because normal life has to go on people have to go to office school or businesses or wherever they have to go how they will go look at the condition of food Walkers I mean I just pity when I drive my car I do not know what to do about the people who have to walk we have to Bicycle I mean their life is in danger because do not know where their foot is going how many feet or deep their foot will go car can somehow take a bump and it can survive so I think it is high time that this incident somebody people have sacrificed their life it should become a beacon it should become a kind of you know idea for all the administrative authorities all the mun abely and what baffles me is that the same roads the same underpasses are taken by the baboos the top officials the politicians as well so how can and why are you not concerned about it because everybody's life is at risk thank you very much gentlemen for joining us [Music]