The Scene
By nightfall on Wednesday, a stretch of the Indore-Ahmedabad National Highway by Chikliya crossing, in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, had become a rescue site. A pick-up van carrying labourers home from Baggad had gone over. The driver lost control near the crossing, the van overturned, and it collided with a Sports Utility Vehicle coming from the opposite direction. The time was between 8.30 and 9 pm.
Indore Divisional Commissioner Dr Sudam P Khade gave reporters the load sheet of the disaster: “A very tragic incident occurred in Dhar. I was informed that 46 persons (mostly labourers) were travelling in a pickup vehicle. It overturned and caused an accident. We have received information about the deaths of 15 people. This is very unfortunate,”
The Count
The toll climbed in stages, the way roadside tolls do. Twelve fatalities were reported first. Four more persons succumbed to their injuries, taking the count to 16, officials said on Thursday. The last of them died at Dhar district hospital, where civil surgeon Dr Mukund Burman confirmed one more death after the commissioner’s briefing, pushing the figure past the 15 he had cited.
On the Ground
The wounded were moved on two tracks. “Seven injured persons have been referred for treatment to Indore. Fifteen people are undergoing treatment here. The patients here are currently stable, but if they need to be referred (elsewhere), everything will be done,” Khade said, with fifteen under care in Dhar itself.
Indore readied its own response. “In Indore also, we have deployed a team of doctors and are making all arrangements so that there is no delay or problem in treatment,” the commissioner added. He relayed instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to ensure all arrangements were made, treatment provided, and “no one is left without care”. Khade and Inspector General Anurag monitored relief operations at the spot itself.
The Money and the Inquiry
Compensation followed within a day. Modi expressed grief on Wednesday, and payments from the PMNRF will deliver Rs 2 lakh apiece to the next of kin of the dead, with Rs 50,000 headed to each injured survivor. The state’s sums run higher under Chief Minister Yadav: Rs 4 lakh for every bereaved family, Rs 1 lakh for every seriously injured patient, and Rs 50,000 for the rest of the wounded. District in-charge minister Kailash Vijaywargiya ordered the local administration to ensure proper treatment, and Umang Singhar, the Leader of Opposition and a Dhar native, grieved the deaths.
A case has been registered at Tirla police station, and officers there are now investigating what made the driver lose control of the van.
