Mohammad Kaleem, a 52 year old security guard, working with Rajwada Restaurant at Ayad was crushed to death by a tourist bus on Sunday evening. Kaleem, s/o Ishaq Cheepa, was a resident of Gayriyon ka Mohalla, near Cheepa Masjid at Ayad.

It was in the evening hours, when there is immense traffic at the Ayad bridge, due to it being a Sunday as well as the public that visits the Lake City Mall which is situated on the banks of the Ayad river. It was in this crowd of people and traffic that a fast tourist bus, coming to the circle from the Ayad end, crushed Mohammad Kaleem, while taking a fast reverse gear to manoeuvre a sharp turn.

At 6:15, Kaleem was busy managing the people coming into Rajwada and was organizing their parking, when the tourist bus entered the Ayad circle from the Mahasatiya side. The bus driver intended to turn the bus, but unable to manage the steering correctly, he swiftly took a quick reverse without looking back. Kaleem was standing just behind the bus and before he could recover from the hit, the bus reversed further on and crushed his head, killing him on the spot. Onlookers took him to MB Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead. The incident caused a traffic jam in the area.

Police have registered a FIR against the bus driver on the complaint by Kaleem’s brother. Due to the crowd that gathered at the spot of the incident, all routes leading to the busy Ayad circle were blocked. Police from nearby stations came to control the situation, and some policemen used ungratifying language, causing the people to lose control thereby resulting in verbal altercation between the police and the public.

The owners of Rajwada were also very callous in their approach, and when the crowd gave them a piece of their mind, the restaurant was shut and the owners went to hospital with the family members.

Udaipur, a tourist hub is now struggling with the unorganized management of traffic in the city, especially the bigger tourist buses, which are plying in conested areas. The demarkation of what kind of vehicles need to ply on which routes is not yeet done, probably with the apprehension that tourist activity will be affected. Parking alongside a busy road, unmanaged and unorganised traffic in busy areas, traffic in residential colonies, are some of the apparent issues which are being overlooked in the hurry to develop the smart city…unfortunately.