'A flyover could have saved my son's life'

NASHIK: Sunanda Bochare is relieved that a flyover is finally coming up over the K K Wagh-Jatra Hotel stretch, but feels that it should have been in place much earlier.
"If the flyover from K K Wagh to Jatra Hotel was part of the same elevated corridor from Indiranagar till the college, many lives would not have lost on the junctions of Bidi Kamgarnagar, Jatra Hotel, K K Wagh junction and Amritdham...including my son's," said the mother of Ravindra Bochare, who died in an accident on the highway at the age of 19.
"Ravindra was a bright child. He was an expert cable wire work, for which he used to get calls from places as far as Aurangabad. His death was too early. I think he would not have met with the accident if the flyover was there," she said.
On September 11, Ravindra, a resident of Bidi Kamgarnagar in the Amrutdham area, died on the spot after a speeding pick-up van collided with a truck on the highway and hit him. The truck was moving towards the city from the Ozar side, while the pick-up van was crossing the highway from the Sainagar end. As the momentum of the pick-up van got deflected, it dashed the rickshaw of his father, Suresh.
At the time of the accident, both Suresh and Ravindra had seen the truck and pick-up rushing towards them. While Suresh managed to move away in time, Ravindra wanted to move their autorickshaw out of the two vehicles' way and was hit by the van.
The damaged auto-tickshaw contines to lie in the backyard of the Adgaon police station. Suresh has, in the meantime, taken up another rickhaw on a Rs 150-a-day rent to support his family. But life for the Bochares has virtually stopped.
"After Ravindra died, it has become difficult to live. Most of the calls we make to the lawyer we have hired go unanswered. Now all that we expect is to get the insurance money," said Sunanda.
Govind Aher, a resident of Bidi Kamgarnagar said, the bus service from Bidi Kamgarnagar has stopped for a year, forcing the girls from the area to walk 1.5km every day, cross the highway and take a bus for the city. "Until the flyover is complete, the fear of accidents is always there," he said.