A narrow lane at Nandagudi village in Hoskote taluk saw three deaths and critical injuries to two, who were all passengers of the ill-fated mini bus, which rammed a KSRTC bus Monday evening. All the victims were neighbours for many years. 

Among the deceased was the mini bus driver, Mahadevaiah (48), who was killed on the spot.

He is survived by his wife Gayathri and two college-going children, Kavya and Karthik.

Pavithra, an 18-year-old garments factory worker who died in the fateful accident, was a neighbour of Mahadevaiah.

She was apparently the lone bread-winner in the family, after her father deserted them.

The girl was working at the Solid State Systems Private Ltd for the past three years.

In the adjacent lane is 40-year-old Dilshad’s house and, her body was being taken for burial when Deccan Herald team visited the area on Tuesday. She was an employee one of the companies at the Pillagumpe Industrial Area.

Erappa (36), was the cleaner in Mahadevaiah’s bus for the past six months. He has survived the accident with a broken right arm. 

He said that Mahadevaiah was an experienced driver and was earlier, working as a driver for a milk lorry.  He was not sure as to who was responsible for the accident. Sujatha (29), another survivor, is still shaken by the gruesome accident.

Hospital ill-equipped

After autopsy, the bodies of the 10 victims were handed over to their respective families at Government General Hospital, Hoskote, in the presence of local MLA and Labour Minister B N Bachegowda. 

The families were also given a cheque for Rs 15,000 by each  KSRTC as an adhoc relief to meet the expenses of the last rites. Mallikarjuna, an official from KSRTC, said that a total of Rs 50,000 will be paid to each family. 

Bachegowda said that since the mini bus driver Mahadevaiah belonged to the unorganised sector, he will be given Rs two lakh as compensation. 

Age and wage structure

“The deceased workers would be paid compensation depending on their age and wage structure.  As far as the medical expenditure is concerned, the ESI Corporation will be reimbursing the amount,” he added.

The minister pulled up the health officials for the poor maintenence of Hoskote government hospital, which lacks facilities to handle accident cases.  

Despite being located on a highway, the hospital does not have an emergency care centre. The 30-bed hospital does not have  regular doctors. 

Dr Kittur, district health officer, Bangalore Rural, said that Hoskote has been sanctioned a 100-bed hospital and 60 per cent of the civil work has been completed. 

He said a trauma care centre will be coming up at the same location shortly.