At least ten people, including three women, died and two others were seriously injured in a road accident at Haiyo Tangri Village near Vikasnagar, Dehradun on Wednesday. The State Government has announced `one lakh monetary assistance each to the families of the deceased and `25,000 to the injured.
The accident occurred at 10.30 am when a Tata Sumo skidded off and slipped into 150-metre deep gorge at Purori while it was on its way to Vikasnagar.
locals vented anger over lack of medical facilities in the local hospital where the injured were rushed after the accident. Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Dinesh Aggarwal and Dehradun district Panchayat president Chaman Singh, SDM Ashok Kumar, CO SK Singh and others reached the spot and expressed grief over the incident. Sources said that the accident occurred when the Sumo driver lost control of the vehicle. The driver and owner of the vehicle were among those killed.
The CO said that ten people had boarded a Tata Sumo number - UA07CA 8474- at Haiyo Tangri Village. The accident occurred four kilometres away from Haiyo Tangri in Chakrata, he added. Sources said that the owner of the Sumo was driving the vehicle with the driver sitting beside him. He was perhaps not adept in driving along such rugged terrain, police sources said.
The area where the mishap occurred was under the jurisdiction of revenue police. The Vikasnagar police teams and fire tenders led by Circle Officer SK Singh rushed after receiving information and conducted relief and rescue operations. Eight died on the spot while two died later in a hospital, located in Chakrata.
The deceased have been identified as Monika (14), Devendra (35), Jalma Devi (35), Puja (20), Seetu (25), Chaman (30), Bajau (32), Kabir (20), Sajju (21) and Mukesh (23). The injured are Rikhad resident Ajay (16) and Kanawa resident Vipin (22). Hundreds of locals, who reached the hospital, poured out