Regular Driver Of Ill-fated Medak School Bus Wishes He Was At Work That Day

Kummuri Balayya was the regular driver of the ill-fated AP 23X 5349 school bus of Kakatiya Techno School and he drove that bus for 4 months before he took a day off on July 24. That day he his uncle passed away in wee hours of morning forcing Balayya to arrange his friend Bikshapathi to do his duty for a day, with the permission of school management. Now, he just wishes he was at work that fateful day.

At 9.30 am when he was on his way to the funeral of his uncle, he had received a call from the principal of the school breaking the news about a train slamming into the bus at an unmanned railway crossing. the accident. Balayya’s BP shot up and was hospitalized

On hearing about the accident, Balayya’s blood pressure dropped alarmingly and he was hospitalized, forcing him to skip his uncle’s funeral. He was discharged on Monday but is yet to come to terms with the tragedy. “I will not go back,” is what he said when asked if he would resume work at the school.

“I felt my legs go limp. I could not believe what I was told but I did not have the courage to find out,” he says even as he maintains Bikshapathi is one of the best drivers with even heavy trucks for 4 decades. And he can not think of a reason why his friend took the route of unmanned crossing when the manned crossing is nearer the route.

But one inconsequent decision changed fate of dozens of families. The toll in the bus tragedy since the accident has increased to 18, with the death of 11-year-old Vaishnavi, in a city hospital early on Tuesday.