Noida techie Yuvraj Mehta’s death exposes serious lapses in construction safety, delayed rescue efforts and administrative accountability.
Noida techie Yuvraj Mehta’s Death: Rescue teams and locals at the water-filled construction pit in Sector 150 where a 27 year-old techie lost his life (Photo: X)
Noida Techie Death: A tragic accident in Greater Noida-a software professional, Yuvraj Mehta, 27 years old-finally sparked public debate on the preparedness and efficiency of the urban safety network. What seemed to be no more than a routine accident early in the night soon became an experience of agony that underlined the loss of a young life owed to failure of rescue operations and proper monitoring of construction.
He was 27 and working as an IT professional. He resided in Sector 150 of Greater Noida. He was working for a technology firm in Gurugram and came under the list of many employees who commuted on the congested roads of NCR every day. He was returning home on January 17 when his vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a pit full of water in an under-construction area because of dense fog.
Eyewitness and Mehta's father paint a chilling picture. Over 100 civilians are said to have gathered as Mehta clung to his partly submerged car, signaling for help with his mobile phone torch light. His father, Raj Kumar Mehta, has said that his son had immediately phone him in a distressed call following the accident. However, despite efforts to locate him, the poor conditions and the unavailability of professional divers made the rescue process excruciatingly slow.
Moninder, a delivery agency employee who came to the spot at 1:45 am, described the amazement at the reluctance of the rescuers. The pit was full of ice-cold water, sharp iron rods, and no light in sight. But Moninder tied a rope to his waist and ventured into the water himself, searching for a good 30 minutes. He has also said that if the rescue efforts had been made even ten minutes earlier, Mehta could have been saved.
Mehta was discovered after more than five hours of searching. His body was retrieved along with the help of SDRF, NDRF teams, the fire services department, and the police. The result of the post-mortem also brought clarity to his death: cardiac arrest. This brought very little solace in dispelling claims of inaction in rescuing the duo due to unsafe sites.
Anger over the incident prompted disciplinary action by Noida Authority. Junior engineer of Traffic Cell, Naveen Kumar, was removed with charges of laxity in ensuring safety. It is conceded by the officials that the pit dug for basement at the under-construction site was not adequately barricaded or had warning signs though it is very close to a busy intersection.
This is in addition to the termination of projects. The authority has also issued show-cause notices to certain officers in connection with traffic management as well as construction safety in Sector 150. The authority also asked for an assessment concerning the developer's compliance level with health and safety standards.
The police have confirmed that Mehta was working for Gurugram-based company and was returning to home when the accident happened in the dense fog. As per the NCR traffic statistics, it has been revealed that the road accidents have increased significantly during the winter fog, and the number of fatal accidents stands in dozens every year.
