M.D. Chandrashekhar is an angry man. Even two months after his two-year-old grandson Diganth was killed after the cement bench in a park overturned, the family has received neither any compensation nor even condolence from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials.
Mr. Chandrashekhar, along with his wife, Diganth’s parents, uncle, aunt and little cousins, staged a dharna at the BBMP head office on Tuesday.
He told presspersons that the BBMP was responsible for the death of his grandchild, as it had not maintained the park. “We had filed an FIR with the Jalahalli Police Station. Yet, no action has been initiated against the BBMP engineers, who failed to maintain the park,” he said.
Diganth’s father, B.C. Adarsh, took him to a park on Police Station Road, near HMT quarters, Jalahalli, on November 7, when the stone bench collapsed backwards into a drain. Diganth was crushed under the stone, while Mr. Adarsh sustained minor injuries. The residents had then claimed that the benches were fixed to the ground without any concrete foundation.
Soon after the incident, the Jalahalli police arrested G.R. Kumar, BBMP’s Assistant Executive Engineer. Sources told The Hindu that they had written to the BBMP’s Deputy Commissioner of Rajarajeshwarinagar zone asking which department was responsible for park maintenance. They claimed that they were yet to receive any response from the BBMP officials.
Meanwhile, the bereaved family is still waiting for justice.
“We have lost our only son. My wife is yet to recover from the shock. Tanusha and Shreyas, Diganth’s cousins, still ask for him. We have suffered a great loss. Yet, the negligent BBMP officials are scot-free,” charged Mr. Adarsh.
Mr. Chandrashekhar said that the family demanded suspension of the negligent officials. “We do not want other families to suffer at the hands of negligent officials. If the BBMP does not act soon, we will intensify our struggle for justice and submit a memorandum to the Lokayukta and the Chief Minister,” he added.
