Debashish Kundu’s mangled Maruti 800 car after the collision with a truck racing down the wrong lane on NH6, near Kona Expressway, on Sunday afternoon. (Below) Lack of policing along the accident-prone stretch allows trucks like this one to routinely switch lanes. (Gopal Senapati)

A truck taking a short cut through the wrong lane smashed a Maruti 800 head-on near Kona Expressway on Sunday afternoon, killing a young couple and leaving their two school-going daughters injured and orphaned.

Debashish Kundu, 40, and wife Ruby, 35, were taking daughters Dhriti and Bidisha back home from their friend’s house in Belur when the tragedy occurred around 3.30pm at the intersection of Kona Expressway and NH6, where trucks routinely enter the wrong lane in the absence of policing.

“The truck had illegally changed lanes. The driver, Raju Mondal, has been arrested and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” said Akhilesh Chaturvedi, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Howrah.

Pharmaceuticals distributor Debashish, who was driving the Maruti 800, and Ruby died in their seats. Sisters Dhriti, 14, and Bidisha, 12, suffered leg, shoulder and suspected head injuries. The duo, students of classes VIII and VI at Howrah’s St. Agnes School, have been admitted to Woodlands hospital in south Calcutta.

“The kids are unaware that their parents have died. We don’t know how to break the news to them,” Sampa Mukherjee, Debashish’s elder sister, told Metro in the evening.

The Kundu family is not the first one to be destroyed by callous highway driving and non-existent policing on the Kona Expressway and beyond. Since 2009, at least 30 people have died in accidents on this stretch, almost all of them triggered by trucks illegally changing lanes.

Driver Mondal was apparently racing down the wrong lane to reach one of the dhabas or a fuel pump on that flank after crossing over through a gap in the divider 100 metres from the accident spot, around 15km from the heart of Calcutta.

“Accidents occur every day; it’s just that nobody talks about these until lives are lost. Truckers do as they please and there are no policemen around to stop them,” said Ankush Paul, a resident of Bally who frequently drives through that stretch.

On December 13, 2009, a truck jumping lanes collided with a Kolaghat-bound bus on NH6 near Bagnan, leaving 23 people dead. Former transport minister Ranjit Kundu’s promise of more police deployment after that accident was never fulfilled.

In July 2010, five members of a family were killed at the same spot when a truck collided with their Maruti 800. The family was headed for Puri.

The police brass claimed steps were being taken to rein in rogue truck drivers.

“We are aware that most accidents occur because of truckers. We are identifying the accident-prone stretches to increase vigil,” said Sukesh Kumar Jain, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), Howrah.

Such was the impact of the collision that killed Debashish and his wife that the front of their Maruti 800 was reduced to a mangled mass of metal. A gas-cutter had to be used to extricate the pharma trader’s body from the car.

All four members of the family were taken to Howrah District Hospital, where doctors declared the parents dead.

Dhriti and Bidisha were shifted to Woodlands after the condition of the elder of the two sisters turned critical.

“She has suffered multiple fractures and was brought unconscious. She has since regained consciousness but we need to be sure she doesn’t have head injuries before declaring her out of danger,” a Woodlands official said.

Bidisha mostly has leg injuries.

“The younger one fainted after seeing her elder sister lying unconscious and bleeding from her nose,” said Subhrojyoti Das, a close friend of Debashish.

The sisters had spent the day at their friend’s place and were picked up by their parents around 2.45pm.

After crossing GT Road and NH2, Debashish had hit the Kona Expressway-bound lane of NH6 and was headed towards Drainage Canal Road when the accident occurred.