Mumbai: 6-foot wooden cupboard from illegal shanty falls on student

File pic of slums swallowing footpaths outside the school forcing kids to walk on the roadAs slums continue to gobble up footpaths in Khar children canrsquot even get to school without getting hit by cars or falling cupboards A 10yearold girl was passing by the slums outside her school when a heavy wooden cupboard fell on top of her injuring her severely Whatrsquos worse the slum dwellers then harassed her family for complaining to the authoritiesPrachi was nearly knocked unconscious by the cupboard and now has to wear a neck brace for the injury as her parents worry about her safetyFor years parents and teachers at St Elias High School have been complaining about the ever growing slums right on the pavement outside Because of this encroachment school kids are forced to walk on the roads and quite a few have been hit by carsInjured and abusedIt was to prevent such an accident that 10yearold Prachi Walekar was instructed by her mother to stay close to the pavement as they walked to school on Saturday But as Prachi was walking by the footpath a massive wooden cupboard fell on her right outside one of the slum dwellings The cupboard caused serious injuries to Prachirsquos neck and barely missed her younger brother who is in Std IldquoAll I was doing was protecting my two children from the traffic Suddenly there was a loud crash and I was horrified to see my daughter under a 6ft wooden cupboard I was in no state to respond and can only remember some passersby lifting the cupboard off my child who was in a semiconscious staterdquo said Prachirsquos mother PrernaPrachi was taken to Bhabha hospital where doctors diagnosed trauma to her spinal column Prachi was forced to miss school on Monday but yesterday as she and her mother were walking towards the school the slum dwellers gheraoed them and heckled them A group of women from the slums hurled abuses at Prachirsquos mother expressing their anger that the family had complained to the BMC and police about the incidentAccident zoneAccording to the school principal this is the third time that a student has met with an accident because of the encroachment In February midday had reported how 2000 students parents and teachers took to the streets in a silent protest march over the encroachment after which the assistant municipal commissioner in the area had assured immediate action However the situation remains much the sameSchool principal Father Milton fears that accidents will continue to occur unless the authorities take appropriate action ldquoWe have nothing personal against the slum dwellers and if eligible they ought to be given alternate housing or shifted elsewhere so that the children have a footpath to walk onrdquo he saidFamily worriedmidday visited the Walekar home in Juhu and found Prachi in extreme discomfort forced to wear a neck brace But apart from her injury the family is also worried about her safety ldquoFirst the accident and then the verbal assault on my wife has left the entire family traumatised How are my children supposed to go to school if the same thing continuesrdquo he questioned