Freak accident in a park

Avijit Thakur, a resident of Poisur, dies after falling off a damaged bench at a park in Thakur Complex
 
Zagdu Singh Thakur Park in Thakur Complex will always haunt the family members of Avijit Thakur, who died at the park. Six-year-old Avijeet visited the park with his brother to play badminton and died after falling off a damaged bench.  Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said the boy was been jumping on the bench when he lost his balance and fell upside down with the bench falling on him. The boy suffered a major injury on lower portion of his head and lost conscious. He was declared dead on arrival by a local hospital, where he was brought in by the visitors. The family has been in shock and Avijeet’s mother has refused to eat since the accident.
This park is owned by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and is currently looked after by Shivtej Trust belonging to Ramdas Kadam, member of legislative council and Shiv Sena leader.
Describing the incident Kamlesh Thakur, father of the boy and resident of Hanuman Tekdi, says, “The incident took place on February 5 at around 6 pm. He had been to the park to play badminton with his elder brother. After playing for an hour’s time, the duo was to return, when his brother asked him to wait, as he wanted attend nature’s call. Avijeet went and sat on a damaged bench. He lost his balance and fell upside down with the bench falling on him. My elder son called me and informed me about the incident after which I rushed to the spot.”
“He was taken to Gokul hospital but was declared dead. He suffered deep injuries on his head and around the nose and was bleeding profusely. He was then taken to Bhagwati hospital and a post-mortem was conducted of his body,” he says.
Sanjog Kabre, assistant municipal commissioner, R–South Ward stated that it was an accident as the boy had been jumping on the bench. “While he was jumping his leg got entangled and he lost his balance and fell down with the bench on him.”
Ajit Thakur, a relative described the child as extremely brilliant and full of life
Thakur regrets his decision of sending his son to the park. Due to hectic school schedule he did not have time to go and play at the park.  However, from last few weeks, Avijeet, who studied at St Lawrence High School, had been insisting a lot on going to the park.
“On February 4, Avijeet refused to follow his daily activities such as taking bath because I did not permit him to go to the ground. Finally, on Sunday I relented and allowed him to go with his brother. I was waiting for them to return when I got to hear about the accident,” adds Thakur.
Meanwhile, activities in the playground continued as usual a week later when Cityplus visited the park. It was noticed that many of the benches at the park are in a faulty condition. This reporter tried sitting on two benches, but were quick to move out of balance when the bench began shaking.
The spot where the accident took place was open for public including children who were playing marbles few feet away from the spot. The bench, which was broken, was thrown away in the corner of the park. Locals blame the poor maintenance of the park as a reason for the accident. “There were several times we had verbally asked the caretakers of the park to do something about the faulty benches. But they ignored the complaints,” says Alok Chaudhary, a resident of Thakur Complex.
Kabre says he will take the required action to carry out repairs of the benches in the park.

If you spot any damaged property
•    Complain to the garden department of the local ward office
•    You can also meet the ward officer who meets people on Monday at 3.00 pm
•    Alternatively, you can also complain about the playground or the park to the local corporator

--Shubhangi Ghadi