Crash
Seven construction workers and their family members died in this car accident on Bandra’s Carter Road last November. The young man who had been driving the car got a six-month prison term. The High Court has, however, reopened the case.
Meanwhile, apart from the lives lost, there were others whose daily struggles for survival became even harder (see here). In the impoverished region of Mahbubnagar, over 800 km away from Mumbai, is an old woman who lost her son and pregnant daughter-in-law, and who now does odd jobs in the fields in exchange for food. Another old woman who must care for her orphaned 11-year old grandson. And a man who lies paralysed on one side of his body, still traumatised by the fear that a speeding car might kill him:
All the victims were Pindi’s friends and family. He had migrated with them, as thousands of young folk have done in this dirt-poor area, to Mumbai for six months every year for the past 18 years. Six of the seven who died were from Mahbubnagar, where about 40 per cent of the population joins the great, faceless migration to Mumbai every year. They live either in slums or on pavements and power the metropolis’ construction boom — building roads, apartment blocks, flyovers, railways and other infrastructure…
Pindi’s right side is paralysed. He cannot work. He has medical bills to repay. He has five children between the ages of 3 and 13, and a wife who is furious at the verdict. “Those rich fellows have gotten away with murder,” she said. “I have to take care of my husband. He’s like a child now since he cannot even bathe on his own. I have children. Should I work or sit at home and look after them?”
