‘Death in ditch corporation’s fault'

The family is at once shocked, angry and bitter. A day after 48-year-old P. Gunasekaran died after tripping and falling on his face in a sludge-filled pothole on Mandaveli Street in Mandaveli on Monday, his family unequivocally blamed the corporation for their loss.
Speaking to TOI in their small singleroom tenement on Kannagi Street, Thiruvalluvar Nagar, relatives who had just completed the last rites of Gunasekaran said negligence of the authorities caused the death and demanded that the government pay for the untimely death.The roads in the city are in such poor shape, they said, anyone using them is at peril of sustaining severe injuries or even losing their life.
An inconsolable G Komathi, Gunasekaran’s elder daughter, blamed the authorities for the death of her father. “He was the light of our lives and guided us at every step of our life. Who will we turn to now? He borrowed `4 lakh to make our house larger. How will we repay the loan,” she said.
A relative, E Kumar, confirmed that the family would be in a crisis without Gunasekaran. “A good man has died and it is the fault of the corporation,” he said. “The family is in dire straits and is saddled with loans. Who is going to help them?” “It is now the responsibility of the government to sympathetically grant financial aid to the family,” Kumar said. “It is very sad to see the family’s plight. It makes me so angry that the authorities can be careless to the point that it costs a life.”
M Ramesh said his brother-in-law Gunasekaran was very fond of his daughters and wanted them to study and do well in life. “Komathi works for an IT company in Tharamani and the younger daughter Saranya works in a medical store,” he said. “His wife Mangalam is a homemaker.”
Gunaskearan was going to the flour mill where he worked around 11.45am on Monday when he fell into the pothole. He died later of cardiac arrest.
Doctors said if Gunaskearan already had heart problems and reduced blood supply to the heart, the sudden fall could have aggravated the condition. “When a person suffers shock, the peripheral blood vessels get dilated and the blood supply is reduced.
This could lead to cardiac arrest,” a doctor said. However, he said a detailed autopsy report is awaited to confirm the cause. Neighbours said they were appalled by the attitude of the government and civic agencies. “What can we do? Because we are poor people, even the police are not with us. They filed a FIR in which they state that Gunaskearan tripped and fell when it was clearly a case of negligence and lack of maintenance of the road,” said M Kumar, 22, who also lives on Kannagi Street. “He was a wonderful human, always ready to help if anybody was in need,” said P Renuka, a neighbour. “We will miss him.”