OMKARESHWAR: A woman died and three others, including a child, were seriously injured after a car in which they were travelling plunged into the Bogawan canal on Omkareshwar – Sanawad road in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.
Omkareshwar police station in-charge Jagdish Patidar informed that incident took place around 9 pm on Friday, when Abhishek Chaturvedi alias Chintu, 32, a resident of Omkareshwar along with his wife Garima Chaturvedi, their son and diver Gautam Kevat were heading towards Sanawad in their car MP-12/CA 4274 to visit a hospital there.
It was dark near the bridge over the canal, and the car abruptly swerved and fell into the canal. Local farmers who were working in the nearby agriculture fields informed police and administration.
Gautam, and Abhishesk Chaturvedi managed to come out of car with his son, but Garima Chaturved remained stuck in the car and died.
Police station in-charge Patidar informed that tehsildar Uday Mandloi immediately called authority at the Omkareshwar dam and stopped water discharge in the canal from the dam. Tehsildar also called employees deputed at lower area to open all the gates to lower down water level.
At around midnight, when the water level in the canal recede, rescue team took out car from the canal, but it was too late for Garima Chaturvedi.
Police sent the body to the government hospital for postmortem, while three others who were saved are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Meanwhile, accusing Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) of being responsible for number of accidents that took place at the same point in the past, villagers claimed that lack of side walls and other precautionary measures at the bridge over canal were responsible for the accidents. Villagers claimed that as many 15 people lost their lives so far.
One of the eyewitness Durgaram Kawa, a resident of Bogawan village informed that the main canal of Omkareshwar dam passes through villages like Kothi, Bogawan and Mortaka.
Narmada Valley Development Authority Department is responsible for the construction and maintenance of this main canal. Since the inception of the canal in the year 2007, many people have lost their lives due to lack of proper road crossing.
Another Lalit Raj Birla, a resident of Bogawan village said there should be adequate barricading and adequate lighting at night, but till date the administration and canal department have not arranged any kind of barricading here. Proper lighting and speed breakers with reflectors should be installed on both sides of the canal so that such accidents can be avoided in future, Birla suggested.
