21-year-old dies after falling into crater

A 21-year-old Nagpada resident died due to a huge crater on JJ Marg on Monday and that also led to a tussle at the standing committee meeting in BMC after which the civic body said all craters will be filled by October 5.

The victim, Rizwan Khan, was on his way to get ice-cream for his family along with his friend Sayyed Murtaza on Monday at 11.30 pm when the incident occurred. Khan’s bike fell in a huge crater at the JJ Marg near JJ hospital gate number 12. Khan was rushed to JJ Hospital after which he was taken to Saifee hospital where he breathed his last.

However, Murtaza has sustained injuries on his abdomen, hands and legs, a local resident said. The JJ Marg police station has registered an accidental death report on Tuesday, senior police inspector Dilip Shinde confirmed. Khan’s father, Kamal Khan said BMC also filled the crater the next day. “It took a death for the authorities to fill the huge pothole. My son was driving at speed of just 30 kmph which resulted in his death. The authorities must take note of this and avoid such incidents in the future,” Kamal Khan said.

He added that the boys were not wearing helmets since they had to travel just a short distance.

The opposition, on Wednesday, demanded a compensation for the victim’s family. Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party corporator said, “The BMC is responsible for the young boy’s death. His family deserves a compensation. There are potholes on the entire flyover, we have been complaining about this for a long time but BMC has no solution.”

Corporators also lashed out at BMC’s reports on pothole status which states that only 45 craters in the city have to be fixed, as of Wednesday. Pravin Chheda, Congress corporator said, “How can the civic engineers look at only complaints registered by citizens? We can take them on any road and show a dozen potholes. Are they blind to not notice?”

Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, in charge of roads, said, “Mumbai has received heavy rainfall over the last few weeks. We have been fixing potholes on a daily basis. We will fix all the craters by October 5.”