KTR shielding accused in flyover mishap: Congress

Hyderabad: The Congress party on Tuesday alleged that MAUD Minister K Tarakarama Rao was trying to shield the accused in biodiversity flyover car mishap case as the driver, Kalvakuntla Krishna Milan Rao, was his distant relative.

TPCC minorities department chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail said that the accused, whose negligent and rash driving led to the mishap killing one woman and injuring many others, was reportedly a close relative of TRS MLA from Koratla, K Vidyasagar Rao, and a distant relative of Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao himself. He said it was ridiculous on the part of KTR to constitute a committee to study the safety aspects of flyover.

He asked why the safety measures and other precautions were not taken before the opening the flyover to general public. "Since his relative is involved in the accident, KTR is trying to create a report to show that the accident occurred due to lack of safety measures and not due to the negligent and rash driving," he said.

Sohail said if the flyover was opened to general public without taking the safety aspects into consideration then criminal cases must be booked against the GHMC officials, engineers, contractors and other related people. They should be booked for putting the lives of common people into danger.

Further, the Congress leader demanded that the State government pay at least Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia to family of Pasala Naga Venkata Satyaveni, the woman who was killed in the mishap. Further, he alleged that the State government was not taking care of the persons injured in the accident.

He said 23-year-old K Kubra from Anantapur was among the injured persons. He said Kubra, an engineer, hailed from a very poor family. "It is the duty of the State government to provide 100% free treatment to the injured persons besides paying compensation," he said.

Sohail warned that the Congress party workers would lay siege to the GHMC headquarters if the victim's family was not paid increased ex-gratia and free treatment was not provided to the injured persons. Further, he said a formal complaint would be lodged with the police for booking a case against GHMC authorities for ignoring safety measures before opening the biodiversity flyover.