Blueline claims Delhi's 71st victim

NEW DELHI: Delhi's Blueline fleet claimed its 71st victim on Friday and, in another incident, almost caused a major tragedy when a bus hit a shrine outside Bhairon Mandir in Kalkaji, south Delhi, narrowly missing a group of sleeping kanwarias in the early hours of the day.

Kishan Pal, 45, was crossing the road at Lodhi Colony near Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in the afternoon when he was mowed down by a Blueline plying on route number 522. Pal, a labourer working on a CPWD project, was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife and five young children. Elsewhere, a Delhi Police sub-inspector was hit by a Blueline in north-east Delhi.

In a potentially disastrous incident, a Blueline bus rammed a shrine head-on outside the Bhairon temple in Kalkaji at 1.30 am. The bus, plying on route number M-13, narrowly missed people who were sleeping in a kanwaria camp outside the temple.

The shrine was severely damaged though no one was seriously hurt since the place was deserted at the time. Police said the driver of the bus is absconding.

The front of the shrine was totally crushed by the force of the impact, indicating that the driver had been speeding at the time of the crash. The metal railing and iron pillars outside the shrine were in a mangled state and pieces of shattered glass were strewn all over the place.

The bus, its front smashed, was removed with the help of cranes. The idol inside the shrine, however, reportedly remains intact.

Kunal Raheja, a student who helped organise the kanvaria camp, eyewitnessed the accident. "We were all sleeping inside the camp tent when the accident happened. The bus missed hitting people who were sleeping in the tent by inches. It bus then went and hit the temple. Luckily no one was injured," he said.