'TINA- There Is No Accountability': Rahul on UP techie death
New Delhi (PTI): Days after the death of a software engineer whose car plunged into a water-filled pit in Noida, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said India's urban collapse is not about lack of money, technology, or solutions but about the lack of accountability.
Yuvraj Mehta (27), who worked in Gurugram, was returning to his home in Noida Sector 150 when his car fell into a deep, water-filled pit near an under-construction site on the night of January 16. He died after frantically pleading for help for around two hours.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "Roads kill, bridges kill, fires kill, water kills, pollution kills, corruption kills, indifference kills."
"India's urban collapse isn't about lack of money, technology, or solutions. It's about lack of accountability.TINA m: There Is No Accountability," the Leader of Opposition said in a post on X.
Gandhi shared a video carrying the remarks of an eyewitness, who said timely action could have saved the man, and that of the deceased's father, who lamented that there were several people there with some of them making videos but did not act to save his son.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday removed the Noida Authority CEO and ordered an SIT probe into the death of the software engineer, amid mounting outrage over the incident and allegations of official and developer negligence.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and directed the constitution of a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the circumstances leading to the accident and submit a report within five days.
Mehta, a resident of Tata Eureka Park society, worked with a Gurugram-based company and was returning home late at night when the accident occurred.
His body was recovered after a prolonged search operation involving the fire department, police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
The postmortem examination conducted on Monday revealed that Mehta died due to asphyxia followed by cardiac arrest, police said. The report noted that his nose was blocked with mud and water, indicating drowning. His last rites were performed later in the day in Haridwar in the presence of his father Raj Kumar Mehta and other family members.
The incident has sparked allegations of negligence, inadequate safety arrangements and delays in rescue efforts, with his father saying he had reached the spot and police, other rescue personnel were also there but could not save him.
"If expert divers could have gone in, then maybe my son would have been saved. Yuvraj kept crying for help as the car drowned," he had lamented while speaking to reporters.
An eyewitness, Monidra, a delivery agent, alleged that timely intervention could have saved the techie. Local residents staged protests over the weekend, accusing authorities and developers of ignoring repeated complaints about waterlogging, lack of barricading and absence of reflectors near the drain and construction site.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
