Child dies as auto drivers rebuff mother's pleas

A mother's desperate plea to autorickshaw drivers to rush her young daughter to hospital fell on deaf ears, resulting in tragedy. By the time the distraught mother reached the hospital, the child was dead.

Pushpavalli, a resident of L.N. Pura near Srirampuram, begged autorickshaw drivers at Bandi Reddy Circle to take her and her daughter, S. Mahalakshmi (6), to a hospital.

Pushpavalli said that she had approached several autorickshaw drivers at the circle, only to be rebuffed.

Residents of L.N. Pura, said Pushpavalli, a domestic help, in desperation, wrapped her daughter, who was having high fever, in a bedsheet and started walking towards the hospital.

A biker, noticing the woman struggling, took the two on his bike to a private hospital where the doctors recommended that the child be shifted to K.C. General Hospital. At the government hospital, doctors declared Mahalakshmi dead on arrival.

Though no complaint has been registered, Malleswaram traffic police, who are aware of the incident, said that they would deploy additional police at the circle from Tuesday. The police said that they would also book the drivers who refused to go on hire.