TUMAKURU: Two women from K Shettihalli in Srirangapatna taluk, who were on their way to the famous Mahalakshmi temple at Goravanahalli in the district, were crushed to death between two buses at the KSRTC bus station here on Friday morning.
The deceased were identified as Puttatayyamma (60) and Pankaja (50). They were part of a group of six women had taken a free bus ride under the Shakti scheme and arrived at Tumakuru bus station. When they were trying to board a bus plying on the Goravanahalli route, the two women were crushed by another bus which was reversing. The driver fled the spot after the accident.
The other women in the group said they planned to have breakfast, but decided to skip as a bus heading towards Goravanahalli was waiting. “We pleaded with the driver to move the bus, but he did not respond to us at all. How can we answer the people in the village”? they said.
Relatives of the women, who arrived in Tumakuru on receiving information, vented their anger at the government claiming that the Shakti scheme was leading to the deaths of women and demanded that it should be scrapped.