Tamil Nadu: Woman hit by truck as she tries to avoid AIADMK flagpole in Coimbatore

Speaking to reporters after the incident, Sivan, Anuradha’s uncle blamed the temporary flagpoles for the unfortunate incident. “We are deeply disturbed, she is the only daughter of her parents. One of her legs is severely affected, and the other one is fractured. The doctors performed surgery for eight hours, she is kept in the Intensive Care Unit and we are hoping for her speedy recovery. We lost a life (referring to Subhasri’s accident) earlier and now this happened. The Madras High Court had put a ban on erecting flagpoles, but still, this kind of incidents keeps happening again and again. The unauthorized flagpole is the reason behind our daughter’s accident,” he said.

The City Traffic Investigation Wing arrested the driver and has seized the truck. An FIR has been registered against the driver for rash driving but there has not been mention of the flagpoles.

DMK leader MK Stalin took to Twitter to condemn the AIADMK government. “Another woman had fallen victim to AIADMK’s obsession with publicity, when will this end?” he tweeted.

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The incident comes two months after 23-year-old techie Subhasri was killed near Kamakshi hospital in Chennai’s Pallikaranai after a hoarding erected on the divider fell on her. The accident triggered social media outrage as people slammed the government and the police department for allowing AIADMK cadres to erect illegal hoardings.

Rajeswari’s scooter stuck under the truck.

Earlier, The Madras High Court had come down heavily on the Tamil Nadu government for failing to implement its order banning hoardings of political parties in the state. Referring to Subhasri’s death, the court said the incident was a result of “bureaucratic apathy”.

“There is zero respect for lives in this country to do sheer bureaucratic apathy. Just imagine how much the girl would have contributed to the GDP of this nation. Couldn’t that politician have conducted the marriage without banners? Or would the ministers get lost in the city in the absence of such banners directing them to the venue?” the HC bench had observed.

The accident spot in Coimbatore.

In 2017, the HC had passed an order banning hoardings of living persons and political parties along roads and pavements as it obstructs traffic and is an inconvenience to pedestrians.