Tragedy repeats for city college

0ctober 19, 2012, and June 8, 2014 -- What is similar to these two dates? The Beas tragedy on June 8 marred the Vallurupalli Nageswara Rao Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology (VNRVJIET) College in Bachupally. It has now come to light that this was not the first instance of tragedy for the college. A strikingly similar accident took place a couple of years ago when two students from the college drowned to death when they were out on an excursion trip.

The students who died were Ajay Kumar and Mohan Kumar. Both were toppers from the college who went on an excursion trip to Pulichintala. On October 14, 2012, some 51 students of the college went for a study tour to Suvarana Cement Factories. It was a 10-day programme. After 5 days of study, the rest of the days were dedicated to picnic. The students went to the Pulichintala dam which was under construction then. About 700 cusecs of water was released from the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and within seconds, four children were swept underneath the rushing water.

“There was no siren, no signboards, no guides and the lecturer was busy talking on his phone. Two boys were rescued by passersby but our children got drowned,” wept Prahalad and Eashwar Rao, parents of Ajay and Mohan.

“The college authorities abused us when we went to ask them for compensation. None of them visited our families. Principal DC Naidu abused us,” said Prahalad. “My daughter, in fact, was promised a seat in the college for pursuing engineering if she scored good marks. After six months, when we approached them for a seat, we were shrugged off stating that JNTU would take the final call,” he added.

Prahalad had spent a huge amount on Ajay’s admission. Having lost his only son, he was trying to come to terms with the cruel fate and ensure that his daughter becomes an engineer. After the tragedy struck, Prahalad’s wife hardly ventured out of her house. “Even today she is inconsolable,” says Prahalad. Prahalad works as a compounder at Satya Kidney Centre. Paying for the engineering fees for his son took a toll on him.

Commenting on the recent tragedy, Prahalad said, “Our son would never come back from his heavenly abode but had the college authorities taken precautions after that incident, we would not have lost so many lives this day. The college authorities, the vice-chancellor and the principal were very harsh to me when we went to meet them after my son’s death. If social worker Vasanth Goud hadn’t called the media and highlighted the issue, the college would not have paid us an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh which took almost a year.”

Meanwhile, Mohan Kumar’s mother C Radha demands answers. She still hasn’t come to terms with her son’s death. Eashwar Rao, father of Mohan, who works as a turbine operator at Nalgonda, was hopeful that his son, who was pursuing his 2nd year in mechanical engineering, would start earning after 3 years.

He was confident that through his son’s earnings, he would be able to clear his debts but fate had other plans. It is now two years since the two families lost their wards. When principal CD Naidu, who was also holding the post when the previous tragedy occurred, was contacted, he said, “The two incidents are different.”
But he was unable to explain the difference. He disconnected the call and bluntly stated he was busy. Other staff at the college too steered away from answering questions on the incident. There is a proverb, “once bitten, twice shy.” But does this apply to the authorities of the college?