RTC bus mows down schoolkid

ONGOLE: Like every other day, six-year-old Bodda Akshaya insisted that her parent let her board her school bus by herself. But on Saturday, when Dharmaiah and Sujatha let her do so, it was only to regret it for the rest of their lives. Akshaya, along with another woman Pattipati Prameelamma, who was waiting at the bus stop in Badevaripalem village in Prakasam district was mowed down by an RTC bus that veered off course.Two others, B Rama Devi and C Praveen Kumar, were seriously injured and are in a critical condition.Eyewitnesses and police said that the Pameru-bound Palle Velugu bus from Kandukuru ran into the passengers who were waiting at the bus stop.Prameelamma and others were gearing up to board the bus while Akshaya was getting ready to board the school bus that was right behind the RTC bus.Akshaya, a class I student at Oxford English Medium School in Valetivaripalem, died on the spot, while Pramelamma breathed her last on the way to the hospital.Villagers and relatives of the victims staged a dharna demanding that the government give `10 lakh as exgratia and also provide government jobs and house sites to the kin of the deceased as well as the injured.Meanwhile, there were contradictory versions about the cause of the accident.While locals said that the bus driver K Brahmaiah was in an inebriated condition, a claim that was allegedly confirmed by doctors who examined him later, the RTC authorities maintained that Brahmaiah was a heart patient and had experienced a mild stroke following which he collapsed on the steering vehicle and lost control of the bus.Police said they would initiate action only after a detailed investigation.However, Brahmaiah is currently in police custody.But for Dharmaiah and Sujatha, it is now all about living with the loss of their only child.They fondly recall her determination that made her want to do little things like boarding bus without anybody’s help