PMPML bus accident: No FIR, no insurance claim

Relatives of the two injured women have reportedly signed a letter stating that the driver and the conductor of the bus, and effectively the PMPML are not responsible for the accident.

The two women injured in a freak accident involving Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) bus will not be able to get medical insurance after they entered into a compromise with the bus driver.

Nayana Upadyay, in her mid thirties, is recovering from a surgery to fix her broken leg with a metal support. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

The two women, travelling in the PMPML bus, were thrown out of the bus after the driver applied sudden brakes.

While Surekha Ujagare, 45, is on bed-rest due to a back injury, Nayana Upadyay, in her mid thirties, is recovering from a surgery to fix her broken leg with a metal support. After the accident, Ujagare said that nobody from the PMPML came to see her.

Ujagare’s husband Haridas, while speaking to Hindustan Times, claimed that the PMPML had failed to take responsible action in the incident. To this, SR Pusalkar, PMT (now known as Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited) chief traffic inspector, claimed that the women’s medical bills can be taken care of through insurance if the two women file a case and produce a First Information Report (FIR) in the matter.

Praveen Jadhav, the driver of the bus said, “The police was involved and the money was needed for their immediate treatment. I gathered the money form various places till late in the night and gave them around ₹10,000, while the car driver gave ₹10,000. Now what else can I do?”

Surekha Ujgare (45), Injured after PMPML bus driver put urgent breaks to avoid collision with a car at her residence with husband Haridas Ujgare in Dhayari in Pune on Saturday.

While the bus driver filed a case against the car driver, the women’s relatives decided to sign the letter taking their complaint back. "We did not file a police case as the police said that we will not be able to claim compensation if we filed a case. We opted to take money instead as we needed it for the treatment. We received ₹9,000 from the bus driver. However, even after trying to reach the PMT, no one has bothered to respond to us. They sent a person who was not an authority. When we asked for an authorised person to speak to, they started speaking badly with us,” said Haridas Ujagare, 53, husband of the injured woman and a rickshaw driver.

Now, the two women have mounting medical bills and a life-long injury to deal with.