Says Shashi Dharan, who escaped death when a 400-tonne Metro crane crashed into his car in May. He is still awaiting compensation from DMRC

For Shashi Dharan, the managing director of a private firm, narrow-escape-from-death has become synonymous with the Delhi Metro.

On May 9, Dharan and his family had a brush with death when an over 400-tonne Metro crane came crashing on the Honda Civic car they were travelling in near Jor Bagh at Lodhi Colony. As Dharan spent Sunday morning watching the Metro accident near East of Kailash, painful memories rushed back to haunt him.u00a0
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Recollecting his Metro mishap, Dharan said, "Though no one was injured, the incident could have taken a far more serious turn as the crane missed the centre of my car by just a few centimetres. I had suggested the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) be alert to avoid any such untoward incident in the future.u00a0 Unfortunately, the frantic pace of construction is coming at the cost of safety. The recent accident was more horrifying than the earlier ones. Because of DMRC's negligence, many people lost their lives."

'Insensitive Metro?'

What irks Dharan more is that the Metro authorities didn't even call him to express grief over the accident. He had sent a legal notice to DMRC for a compensation of Rs 2 crore. He also demanded a replacement for his car that was damaged. "The authorities haven't paid any heed to my notice yet," said Dharan.