On Sunday, 24-year-old Mounika Reddy and her cousin Lithika had planned to visit a hostel at Ameerpet and had travelled from Kukatpally to Ameerpet by the Hyderabad Metro. As she was standing at a pedestrian zone, taking shelter from the rain, a block of the mortar fell on her head, and she died as she was being taken to a hospital.
A day after the freak accident, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), which constructed the metro in a Public-Private partnership has agreed to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the victim’s family, TNM has learnt.
HMRL spokesperson Krishnanand told TNM, “L&T has come forward and said they will pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakhs to the woman’s family. Apart from that we do not have any other details.”
Speaking to the Times of India later on Monday, HMRL Managing Director N V S Reddy said, "As advised by Minister KT Rama Rao, I instructed L&T to pay adequate compensation to the victim's family. Accordingly, L&T management held discussions with her family members and amicably settled and signed and agreement to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the family ofMonika, who was killed in the accident."
The Ameerpet Metro was opened in 2017 and is a major interchange station. Many have questioned the quality of the construction. The mortar fell from a height of 10 meters and Mounika suffered critical injuries after a sharp edge of the mortar piece fell on her head. Both L&T and Hyderabad Metro have not revealed if there would be any investigation into the lapse and whether they would check if construction is sub-standard in other places.
Meanwhile, the SR Nagar police that had only filed a case under 174 crpc (suspicious death) on Sunday has added IPC Section 304 (homicide not amounting to murder).
SR Nagar Sub-Inspector, Ch Naresh told TNM, “We have altered the case to 304 (IPC) (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against L&T.” The police altered the case after seeking legal opinion.
There have been instances in the past for example when BBMP officials in Bengaluru were booked by police due to accidents caused by bad roads. In January, Whitefield police had booked the jurisdictional engineer for an accident in Hagadur.
The victim’s husband, Harikanth Reddy works in an MNC in Hyderabad. He told The Hindu that he asked his wife to take the Metro as that would be the safest. “I thought they would be late for Ameerpet if they take a bus and suggested Metro as it is safe and fast," he said.
L&T has constructed full or partially the metros at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi, and has also won a contract for Phase II of Bengaluru Metro.