Bad road due to cement factory's overloaded dumpers led to MP

The Madhya Pradesh unit of theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday alleged thatpoor condition of the road caused by overloaded dumpers of acement factory led to the bus tragedy in Sidhi district of thestate two days back, in which 51 people died.

CPM's state secretary Jaswinder Singh alleged thatprivatisation and greed for profit was responsible for theaccident.

The accident took place on Tuesday morning near Patnavillage, about 80 km from the Sidhi district headquarters,when the bus heading from Sidhi to Satna fell into the canal,which is part of the Bansagar dam project.

Sources had said that the bus had diverted from itspermitted route to avoid traffic jams.

In a press release, Singh said that the ill-fated bustook the narrow and bumpy sideroad of the canal as thepermitted pathway had been witnessing traffic jams since aweek due to the potholes caused by overloaded dumpers of acement factory.

The party sought that in order to punish the realculprits, a probe should be launched into the permitted butpothole-ridden route, saying that this condition of the roadwas caused by the private company's overloaded trucks.

The trucks and dumpers were overloaded to save royalty(cess). A dumper has to carry the load within the permissiblelimit, like one tonne or so, for which royalty is paid to thegovernment, Singh alleged.

''But the dumpers plying on that road ferried more thanthe permissible quantity unlawfully to save royalty by burninga hole in the pocket of the government and ruining the road,''he alleged.

Meanwhile, according to local residents, traffic onthe designated road had come to a virtual standstill threedays before the bus the tragedy, after a truck had overturnedon it.

There were also reports that people had earlierprotested and blocked the road, seeking that plying of dumperson it should be stopped.

After the bus accident, the designated route has beencleared completely.

''Traffic movement there is on again,'' SidhiSuperintendent of Police Pankaj Kumawat told PTI, adding thatthe road would be repaired.

The CPM release also alleged that efforts were on todivert the attention as wrong things were being done due tothe political patronage.

''Neither the chief minister and nor any minister isready to resign by taking the responsibility of the accident,''the CPM release said.

It added that the mafia has a complete sway over theentire government.

''After the MP Road Transport Corporation was handedover to the private players, 90 per cent owners of the busesare BJP leaders. That is why the fitness (to ply) of thevehicles is being overlooked,'' it said.

State BJP spokespreson Pankaj Chaturvedi, however,termed the CPM's allegations as ''baseless''.

''The government is taking action against thoseguilty,'' he said.

The state government has already said that no guiltywill be spared, Chaturvedi added.

The CPM also demanded that the family of the deceasedshould get financial aid of Rs 20 lakh and one of its membersshould be given a government job. It also said that theinjured should get Rs 5 lakh each.

The central and the state government have paid Rs 2lakh and Rs 5 lakh to families of the deceased respectively.

PTI LALNP NP