Monday, May 23, 2011

A hit-n-run on OMR

Found this cow gasping for breath as my wife and I stepped out of Mantri Synergy for a morning walk. OMR, with high traffic right through the day, gets narrow on our stretch near Padur. It is also a stretch that has stray cows parking themselves in the middle of the road, posing a traffic hazard to passing vehicles.
Cattle owners let their cows roam about on OMR freely. The road along Padur has no sidewalk (not that the roaming cattle follow road rules). And the narrow muddy patch by the roadside is un-walkable because it is littered with trash. Watching us returning from our walk the other day a helpful security guard advised we ought to be extra careful whenever we venture out of the Mantri gate. The stretch in front our complex comes under 'accident prone' zone.
On way back from the walk we ran into a group of Padur municipal sweepers squatting by the side of the dying cow. They said they were waiting for the cow owner to turn up to claim the animal. As for the dying animal, they pleaded helplessness. There was nothing they could do, they said, other than wait for the death. The dying animal was pregnant.
I must admit my wife and I couldn't think of any thing that we could have done to help. Blue Cross, pinjrapole, and Vet. hospital appeared remote from our location. And I didn't try to locate their whereabouts or contact numbers. Maybe, we ought to have their numbers readily available at our main gate security office.

3 comments:

  1. Very sad indeed. I will call Blue Cross in Besant Nagar & ask them if they could do something to bring them to a safer place. The villagers may claim ownership if an attempt is made to move them to a safe place. It is very tricky. I will also write to Mr Sivaram & get the nearest Police station number & perhaps logde a complaint that it is un-safe for the cows & motorists alike & something needs to be done. Will report on the outcome tomorrow. Sriraj.

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  2. aw, sooo sad!!! that is a real tragedy, indeed.

    ...considering that there are lots of them walking on the streets.

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  3. ...and welcome to the blogosphere! your blog is so interesting.

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