Andhra Pradesh

Boy dies as traffic stops for YSR’s convoy

VIJAYAWADA: Stoppage of vehicular traffic by the police to make way for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s convoy is believed to have led to the death of a six-year-old boy, who was on his way to hospital for treatment of jaundice, here on Saturday.

Giri Lakshmi Narayana (6), a native of Eedepalli village near Machilipatnam, was on his way to the NRI Hospital at Chinakakani in Guntur district along with his father Srinivasa Rao, a farmer. Mr Rao brought his son to the city from his village in a car and tried to admit him to Nagarjuna Hospital at Kanuru, but the doctors refused to admit him on the grounds that his condition was serious.

When their vehicle reached Patamata, the police stopped it as the Chief Minister was scheduled to visit Patamatalanka area between 11.30 a.m. and 12 noon to call on the bereaved families of Congress MLA Chanumolu Venkata Rao and Chennupati Seshagiri Rao, husband of former Congress MP Ch. Vidya. By then, the boy became unconscious and his father reportedly made several requests to the police to allow his vehicle to go to the hospital. Even before the traffic could be cleared, the boy breathed his last and the shell-shocked father took the body back to his village. The police said there was no need to register a case, as it was a medical problem.

There were massive traffic jams at every junction till the evening, with the entire police force remaining focussed on the Chief Minister’s visit. As a result, people began to violate road rules and traffic signals resulting in confusion. Vehicular movement was streamlined only in the evening.

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