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BMC paints unmarked speed breaker after biker falls and sustains injuries
An official from the BMC’s K west ward said, “We saw the tweet. We do not know how the accident happened, that is for traffic police to see. But we fixed the speed breaker. We have more than 350-speed breakers in Andheri, and we regularly paint them
Mumbai: It took an accident for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to paint an unmarked speed breaker posing a threat to motorists all this while. 25-year-old Yogesh Upadhyay faced several injuries on his hand, leg and ribs on Friday early morning after he lost the balance of his bike after hitting the unpainted speed breaker.
He was heading back home taking the SV Road in Jogeshwari West. After the fall, Upadhyay’s skin peeled off from leg, hand and his palm.
The next day after the incident, Upadhyay sent a tweet to BMC, sharing photographs of his injuries and the speed breaker. More than 18 hours after the tweet went viral, BMC was forced to paint the speed breaker.
“I was going home after meeting my friends. I was riding a 350cc bike and accidentally I hit the speed breaker which was not visible at all. I called up a few of my friends and we went to the medical store and then went to a doctor the next day to get treated. I have some injuries to my ribs and the injuries on my hand and feet are also painful,” said Upadhyay.
“This speed breaker is not like the standard ones. The height of the speed breaker is higher than it should be, and it had no painting at all. This is not some internal road, it’s on the SV road,” he added.
An official from the BMC’s K west ward said, “We saw the tweet. We do not know how the accident happened, that is for traffic police to see. But we fixed the speed breaker. We have more than 350-speed breakers in Andheri, and we regularly paint them. This speed breaker was painted last month also but because of traffic and water leakages, it gets dull.”
Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of MNCDF, a citizen welfare forum said, “Why is it that the BMC wakes up from its slumber only after citizens die or get injured? The civic body officials should be subjected to criminal prosecution for their intentional dereliction of duty under sections 166B, 217, 409, 431 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 & must face suspension from service, their dereliction must also be recorded in their service record book. The speed breakers across Mumbai suburbs are not in consonance with the IRC guidelines.”
Not only was the speed breaker not painted, but it was also made of tar, on a cement concrete road. The IRC guidelines have not been followed.” he also said adding that “the administration is waiting for people to die to get injured there for them to act. The BMC commissioner must instruct all wards to paint speed breakers across the city.”
The Indian Roads Congress (IRC) which is the Apex Body of Highway Engineers in the country sets guidelines for constructing speed breakers. The IRC was set up in December 1934 on the recommendations of the Indian Road Development Committee best known as Jayakar Committee set up by the Government of India with the objective of road development in India. It is these guidelines that the engineers of BMC or any other agencies have to follow while constructing the speed breakers. Besides having a pothole problem every year, citizens in various instances have also faced issues of potholes on the speed breaker. HT on December 8 had reported, “Carelessly constructed speed breakers raise riders’ hackles.”