During visit to a demolition site in her parliamentary constituency, Member of Parliament from Jamnagar Poonam Madam was injured seriously as she fell into a seven feet deep storm water drain on Monday morning.
The Jamnagar MP was inspecting the site in Jalaramnagar area falling under Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) limits when the incident occurred. Sources close to her said that she suffered head injuries and rushed to a local hospital immediately. later on she was taken to Mumbai in a chartered flight to Mumbai for further treatment, said the source. Apart from Madam three more people also injured.
Following repeated phone calls from residents of Jalaramnagar who were protesting against JMC demolition drive, she rushed there to inspect the real situation. As many as 237 housing units allegedly constructed illegally were being demolished by JMC authorities.
After reaching at the site, she straight away went to officials concerned and when she was talking to them a slab covering storm water drainage under her feet collapsed and she along with three others fell inside it. To rescue them out of the pit, assistance of fire brigade staff had to take, said a JMC official, adding that luckily the fire brigade staff was already there as they were accompanying the demolition team of JMC.
"When she was taken out of the pit, it was clearly appeared that her head was bleeding badly," said a witness. In fact she reached to the site to request JMC officials to give sometime to the residents to make alternate arrangement for shelter.
41-year-old Poonam is carrying forward her father Hemant Madam's legacy as he was four-time independent MlA from Khambhalia assembly constituency in Jamangar district from 1972 to 1990. Her uncle Vikram Madam too is former Congress MP. In fact in the 2014 lok Sabha polls, she defeated her uncle Vikram.