In what could have been completely avoided, another careless accident claimed a life in Vasco. Failing to undertake pre-monsoon trimming of trees in Vasco, the ‘criminal negligence’ of Mormugao Municipal Council caused the death of a motorcycle rider when the tree crashed while he riding along Swatantra-Path
In what can only be termed as ‘criminal negligence’ as reported in the Herald, the Mormugao Municipal Council caused the death of 33-year old Satish Gaonkar, when an old tree, precariously standing along the traffic congested road at Swatantra Path, near a well-known hotel, came crashing down.
According to this source, Vasco police said that the victim, a driver by profession and was a resident of Usgao. At 6.30 am on Saturday morning he was proceeding to Sada to transport grain in a truck.
According to the Times of India, Gaonkar died after getting entangled in overhead electricity wires that were brought down by the Ashoka tree that got uprooted, bringing down an electric pole in the process. A transformer and electrical wires were damaged due to the tree fall.
Vasco police informed that according to the post mortem report, Gaonkar died due to a neck fracture. Although he was not crushed under the tree, Gaonkar sustained the fracture after entangling himself in one of the wires.
The blame game now begins. According to the Times of India, Mormugao Municipal Councillor Krishna said that ‘three years ago dangerous trees were identified and cut down n this stretch. However, many more need attention. He also claimed that just last week he had written to the Council regarding the dangerous trees, but no action was taken in this regard.
According to the Herald, Salkar as of now has served an ultimatum to clear all dangerous trees along Swatantra path within the next 8 days. He urged the authorities to cut down these trees and replace them with new plants.
In the meanwhile NCP leader Jose Philip D’Souza and BJP leader Rajendra Arlekar accused the municipality of causing the tragedy, terming it as ‘criminal negligence’ by failing to undertake pre-monsoon works.
