Rahul Gandhi said the death of software engineer Yuvraj Mehta highlights India’s “urban collapse” caused by lack of accountability, not money or technology.
Mehta died after his car fell into a water-filled pit in Noida; eyewitnesses and family allege delayed rescue and official negligence.
The UP government removed the Noida Authority CEO and ordered an SIT probe as protests grew over safety lapses and ignored complaints.
Days after the death of a software engineer whose car plunged into a water-filled pit in Noida, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said India's urban collapse is not about lack of money, technology, or solutions but about the lack of accountability.
On the evening of January 16, Yuvraj Mehta, a 27-year-old who worked in Gurugram, was driving home to Noida Sector 150 when his automobile plunged into a deep, water-filled hole close to a construction site. After frantically pleading for assistance for about two hours, he passed away.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "Roads kill, bridges kill, fires kill, water kills, pollution kills, corruption kills, indifference kills." "India's urban collapse isn't about lack of money, technology, or solutions. It's about lack of accountability.TINA m: There Is No Accountability," the Leader of Opposition said in a post on X.
Gandhi posted a video with comments from an eyewitness who said that prompt action could have saved the man and the father of the deceased, who criticised the fact that multiple people were present, some of whom were filming recordings, but did nothing to help his son.
Amid growing outrage over the event and claims of official and developer incompetence, the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday dismissed the CEO of the Noida Authority and requested a SIT investigation into the software engineer's death.
After taking notice of the tragedy, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered the formation of a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into what caused the mishap and produce a report within five days.
Mehta, a Tata Eureka Park society resident who works for a company in Gurugram, was on her way home late at night when the tragedy happened.
After a protracted search by the police, fire department, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), his body was found.
Mehta died from hypoxia followed by cardiac arrest, according to the results of Monday's postmortem test, according to the police. According to the report, he drowned because his nose was clogged with water and mud. Later that day, in Haridwar, his father Raj Kumar Mehta and other family members witnessed his final rituals.
The incident has sparked allegations of negligence, inadequate safety arrangements and delays in rescue efforts, with his father saying he had reached the spot and police, other rescue personnel were also there but could not save him.
"If expert divers could have gone in, then maybe my son would have been saved. Yuvraj kept crying for help as the car drowned," he had lamented while speaking to reporters.
An eyewitness, Monidra, a delivery agent, alleged that timely intervention could have saved the techie. Local residents staged protests over the weekend, accusing authorities and developers of ignoring repeated complaints about waterlogging, lack of barricading and absence of reflectors near the drain and construction site.
