Speeding luxury car rams into shop in Mohali, tea vendor dies

Mohali, March 10

A tea stall owner was killed when an uncontrolled luxury car rammed into a roadside shop at Phase 8-B here around 2:14 am today.

The victim, Prakash (30), a native of Bihar, was sleeping in his shop when the recklessly driven Mercedes car, coming from Mohali side, crossed the Cheema traffic lights, hit the road divider and rammed into the shop. He is survived by his wife, three-year-old girl and one-month-old boy. He was planning to go home to see his newborn boy.

10 mishap-prone spots on Airport Road

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• The Cheema traffic light point is one of the 10 black spots on the Airport Road where fatal accidents have been taking place regularly for more than five years. Despite having all data after conducting countless surveys year after year, the MC, GMADA, Traffic Police, Regional Transport Office (RTO) and NGOs have failed to curb accidents at these spots.

73 killed last year

• 73 lives have been lost in accidents on the Airport Road, a stretch of 21 km from Kharar to Zirakpur, last year.

Wake-up call for GMADA

• To check speeding, jumping red light and drunken driving, roundabouts have been proposed instead of intersections on this stretch. However, it took GMADA two years to build eight roundabouts at a cost of Rs 30 crore.

Former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, who visited the spot later, alleged, “A family has lost their breadwinner. The car driver, accompanied by another person, was driving under the influence of alcohol. A few beer bottles have been found in the car. How could they flee the spot after the accident? The police should have dealt with the offenders strictly.”

Meanwhile, kin of the deceased hurled stones at the tow truck and blocked the Airport Road in the afternoon.

DSP (City 1) Mohit Agarwal said, “The Phase 1 police have registered an FIR against Zirakpur residents Atul and Basant Prabhat Gupta (car owner) under Sections 304 and 279 of the IPC. Atul is suspected to be driving the car. The police are probing as to whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol.”