Road crashes, fires, death by suicide: Crime bureau data reflects India’s urban crisis
· Scroll
The deadly fire that swept through a building housing a coaching centre in Lucknow on June 22, leaving 15 students dead exposed urban India’s familiar failings – unchecked violations of building regulations and a governance system that reacts only after lives are lost.
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The fire put the focus on a paradox. India’s policymakers present urbanisation as a pathway to development. Yet Indian cities are in a state of heightened crisis.
The National Crime Records Bureau report on Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2024, released in May, recorded 69,378 accidental deaths that year in 53 “mega cities” – with a population of 10 lakh or more.
The dominant model of city-making prioritises jobless growth, construction for real estate and quicker spatial mobility but ignores safety, social inclusion and public health. Its consequences are visible in accident statistics: deaths from fires, climate-related vulnerabilities, and suicides.
Deadly roads
The rate of accidental deaths in India’s “mega cities” stood at 43.2 per lakh people, significantly higher than the all-India rate of 33.3 per lakh.
Most of these deaths were caused by vehicular crashes, said the report: the 53 mega cities recorded 73,426 traffic crashes, 63,519 injuries and 17,797 deaths. Of these road accidents, 40.3% occurred in urban areas. Nearly one-third of these took place in or near residential areas.
These traffic...