In a startling incident on Saturday, February 1, 2025, around midnight, a 32-year-old cab driver named Rakesh Gowda from Bannur near Mysuru drove his vehicle onto the platform at Tekal railway station, approximately 35 kilometers from Kolar. The car subsequently fell onto the tracks, causing panic among onlookers.
Fortunately, since no train service was available at that time, a major disaster could be avoided. Sources in the Railway Protection Force said a crane subsequently removed the vehicle from the tracks. Authorities are now awaiting medical reports to ascertain whether Gowda was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident; an FIR has been lodged in this regard.
In a different incident on Sunday afternoon, February 2, 2025, a car was completely gutted by fire while crossing a road near Sunnapakunte village in the Mulbagal taluk of the Kolar district. The road had recently been covered with harvested horse gram crops, a practice common in that region to facilitate threshing by passing vehicles. Due to combustible dry plants coming in contact with the car’s muffler, the spread of flames to the vehicle was rapid. Fortunately, not a single instance is that the five occupants maneuvered from the burning car in good time and escaped unscathed.
The events reflect the urgent need for heightened safety awareness in the Kolar district. The Tekal rail control room near Malur in Kolar district comes up in these discussions. In March last year, one passenger died and two were critically injured as a result of the Shatabdi Express passing through the station when various other passengers were on the track.
The Mulbagal taluk is an area well known for its agricultural trends, keeping harvested crops on roads for threshing. This is a traditional method, yet it is dangerous due to the porous nature of dry crops and their proximity to heated places—year-round running vehicles with hot batches such as car silencer pipes. This accident illustrates the importance of looking for safer methods for threshing crops in the future.
A call for safety measures across both transportation and agriculture does stand out. Steps must be taken with the authority’s conscience and local involvement together in preventing such happenings, thereby ensuring peace for all people dwelling in the area.
