Garbage truck driver falls to death

A driver of a garbage collection truck (garbage compactor) fell into a 80-foot gorge and died at a garbage dumping yard near Doddanagamangala village,  about 2 km from  Electronics City.

Though the incident occurred on Friday afternoon, the rescue operation began on Saturday after the media flashed news about the tragedy. Cranes, brought to the scene of mishap, could not lift the ill-fated truck from the gorge. The truck was lifted only after a special crane was brought to the spot. However, by that time, the driver was dead.

The incident took place at 4 pm on Friday when Lingamaiah, a garbage truck  driver came to dump garbage in the ditch.

The vehicle fell into the ditch when he was taking a reverse turn to dump the garbage from the vehicle.

Speaking to Express, Nagaraj G, inspector of Electronics City, claimed that they received the message on Friday night. “We rushed to the spot with fire personnel. After a series of efforts, we were able to lift the vehicle on Saturday and later, we fished out his body from the pond,” he said. the body has been to sent to Victoria hospital for post-mortem.

An angry Ramesh, a resident of Chikkamangala said, “Would they show same negligence, if some politicians fall into a ditch? There is no value for poor people.” He said that the incident happened on Friday afternoon. “It took more than 24 hours for them to lift the vehicle. Had it been done before, his life could have been saved,” he said.

Lingamaiah, who was married to Renu four years ago, has two children. The elder son is three years old, while the second child is just five months old. He was earning `7,000 a per month and was the only earning member of his family.

“He used to work from 5 am to 4 pm. He did not come home on Friday night. Some men in our family after getting the news rushed to the spot at 10 pm on Friday,” she said. Parvathamma, mother-in-law of the deceased, said that they all stay in Chandrappanagar near Diary Circle. He was driving that vehicle for the past four years. Earlier, he used to drive a garbage autorickshaw.

When contacted, Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy, said that the contract with the contractor was signed five years ago. “We will try and help the family members on humanitarian grounds from the BBMP’s side,” he added. Shankar Reddy, BBMP garbage contractor under whom Lingamaiah was working, was in Tamil Nadu when the incident took place. He has taken contract to collect garbage from Bommanahalli and Singasandra wards. “We will provide compensation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bommanahalli councillor B S Manjunath Reddy said that the garbage from Bommanahalli zone is dumped in the dumping yard of Doddanagamangala, some 2 km away from the BBMP limits.

The driver might have pressed accelerator instead of applying brake while reversing, it is said.

Singasandra councillor Kavitha Baburaj said that contractor should have appointed a cleaner with him to guide him.