Motorcycle rider Suresh, 36, and his wife Sindhu fell on Saturday night into a more than six-foot-deep pit the Coimbatore Corporation had dug for constructing an underground drainage chamber on the HUDCO Colony Main Road, near Gandhi Managar.
According to R. Nishanth, an eyewitness, Suresh, a welder, fell into the pit while trying to move away from a container lorry that was moving in the opposite direction, west to east. The incident that happened around 9.30 p.m. forced the HUDCO Colony and Gandhi Managar residents to stage a protest condemning the cavalier attitude of the civic body that carried out the work without placing any caution tapes or barricades.
The area Councillor from the DMK Lakshmi Ilanselvi was quick to blame the Corporation. The accident was a result of the very poor supervision from officials concerned and also the Mayor, who hardly inspected sites where works were under progress.
Sources said that the Corporation had dug the pit only a couple of days ago to construct a chamber. The digging was in continuation of the underground drainage work that had been going on for the past two-three years in a very slow pace.
They added that the absence of street lights only added to the problem.
Ms. Ilanselvi said that despite repeated petitions to the officials concerned for supervising on-going works and repairing street lights, there had been no progress.
The Peelamedu police rushed to the spot, pacified the residents and promised to act against the guilty.
