Truck fell into same ditch recently, says man who jumped in to save engineer in Noida

After a 27-year-old software professional drowned in a water-filled ditch in Noida’s Sector 150 on Saturday, Moninder, a Flipkart delivery executive, who tried to save him by jumping in the water, has returned to the spot several times.

As he looks at the 16 iron barricades around the ditch, which were put up after the incident, the same question haunts him, he says. “Now they (authorities) have put up the iron barricades … Why weren’t these barricades put up 15 years ago? Why do such facilities come up only after someone dies?”

Even as he is not related to the victim, Moninder, whose house is about 15 minutes away from the site of the incident, says he cannot move on from what he witnessed that cold, foggy night. According to him, Yuvraj Mehta, the victim, kept pleading for help and officials had reached the spot but nobody jumped in the water.

The victim, who lived in Tata Eureka Park residential society, was returning from his office in Gurgaon around midnight when his car plunged into a deep ditch dug for a commercial mall project.

The area had no proper turn, barricades or reflectors, residents and the family have since alleged.

“The man was flashing his phone torch from the water. He decided to lie down on its roof, trying hard to ensure that the car stays afloat, as he continuously shouted for help. The fire brigade team had a ladder… they had safety jackets but still they were sitting and waiting… They told me to go into the water, and I did. But they had arrived before me. Why didn’t they jump?” Moninder claims. He adds, “Because of the administration’s negligence, that young man fell in…He drowned in front of the officials. If they wanted to save him, they could have.”

When he jumped in the water, Moninder remembers, he was warned that the ditch was actually a basement, filled with protruding iron rods and freezing cold water. He said he did not find Yuvraj despite continuing his search for 30-40 minutes in the dead of the night.

According to the delivery executive, this was not the first accident at the spot — he helped a truck driver who fell into the same ditch around two weeks back. “That was also a foggy night. The driver was new here. Because there was low visibility, I was trailing his truck to find my way while I was riding my bike for a delivery. Suddenly there was a blast-like sound…an iron rod pierced a tyre and his truck fell into the ditch,” he recalls.

Gurinder, the driver from Punjab’s Ludhiana whose truck fell into the ditch, recounts, “There are no reflectors in the area so an accident is waiting to happen here. After the truck fell into the ditch, I thought there was ground below. So I stepped out and fell straight into the water. Moninder then untied a rope from my truck. He tied it to a bar that was attached to the boundary wall and pulled me out…when we asked the Noida Authority to help rescue the truck, they accused me of causing a portion of the boundary wall to break,” he claims.

Officials from Noida Authority could not be reached for a comment about this incident.

Rueing that the administration did not learn its lesson at the right time, Moninder says, “The truck stayed stuck there for two days. There were bushes inside the ditch… that’s why the driver survived. Didn’t the administration know that this had happened? This time, the administration woke up because a man died.”

He continues to show up as an eyewitness who refuses to let the questions fade. “Why shouldn’t I tell the truth? If they (authorities) want, they can send me to jail. But I will tell the truth — to the District Magistrate, to the SDM, to anyone who will listen,” he says, and adds, “A father has lost everything. He is over 65. The boy was supposed to get married in two-four months — that’s what people here say.”

Beside him, his family stands in support. His mother says, “He came back from the bushes and warmed himself near a fire. He was very shaken. Later he told me everything — that he had gone into the water and somehow came back unharmed.”

His brother, Somindra Singh, says the family fears pressure. “Moninder risked his life.. he couldn’t see a helpless father breaking down for his son.”

Saman Husain is a Correspondent at The Indian Express. Based in Ne... Read More