6 kids hurt as car hits overloaded auto

CHANDIGARH: It seems that the administration and the police have not learnt any lessons from the death of nine-year-old Archana, who had fallen from an overcrowded auto and died on February 8, as packed autos continue to ply on city roads. On Thursday, six students were injured in a road accident when an overcrowded auto was hit by a speeding Tata Aria car in Sector 26.Five of them received minor injuries, while one of the students, six-year-old Shamama, suffered critical injuries and was admitted to PGI.
The right ear of Shamama was partially cut and she will undergo a surgery for it at PGI. Other five injured have been identified as Nandini, 13, Kaushlya, 9, Mohammed Akmal, 7, Sifar, 9, and Mohammed Hyder, 8. All students are residents of Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26 and were headed towards K B DAV School, Sector 7, where they study when the auto they were travelling in was hit by a car near St Kabir Public School in Sector 26.
Though the owner of the car, Vinod Aggarwal, who was at the wheel has been arrested for negligent driving, police would issue a challan against auto driver Manoj Kumar, whose auto was overloaded.
As per traffic rules, only five children can travel in an auto but eight students were travelling in his auto.
Sub-inspector (SI) Baljinder Singh of the Sector 26 police station said all the injured students were rushed to Government Multi Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, while Shamama was referred to PGI. He said the auto was hired by the parents of the children and auto driver Manoj used to pick up and drop the students every day.
Over crowded autos carrying school children had come under the scanner of the Chandigarh police and state transport authority (STA) after the tragic death of Archana on February 8.