A father-daughter duo were on their way to Kendriya Vidyalaya 2 from Hampanakatte via Mangaladevi Road on a scooter on Thursday morning. While the father was negotiating a small curve in front of Rim Zim Apartments, the scooter toppled and they fell on the road.
The rider was neither speeding nor applying brakes while negotiating the curve; the culprit was the wastewater spilled by a fish-transporting vehicle that must have passed by that area a while before. Fortunately, the two were not hurt and left the place after being helped by onlookers.
Despite several drives and warnings by the Mangaluru City Traffic Police, the fish transporters appear not bothered about preventing spillage of wastewater. The menace is more pronounced on two important roads that lead outside the city from the Bunder area. One is the Mangaladevi-Morgan’s Gate-Mahakalipadpu Road and the other is Kulur Ferry Road, passing via Kudroli. The vehicles that leave Bunder early in the morning continue to spill wastewater on their way out of the city, endangering lives.
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Though the city police were able to compel fish-transporting vehicles to install wastewater tanks, only large vehicles appear to have followed the practice. Yet, some of them keep the taps of those tanks open so as to drain out wastewater. On the other hand, many light commercial vehicles, including three-wheelers, have not installed tanks at all, leaving wastewater to spill on to the road all along.
Police Commissioner P.S. Harsha told The Hindu that he would direct the traffic police to initiate stringent action against those spilling wastewater.