NOIDA: A 29-year-old software engineer is battling critical brain injuries after his bike collided with a stray bull on an arterial road in Noida's Sector 168, an incident that has once again drawn attention to the persistent problem of free-roaming cattle on the city's streets and the dangers they pose to motorists.
Prakhar Bhardwaj, who works with Wipro, recently moved to Noida from Bengaluru and was returning home from his office in Greater Noida around 6.50pm on Tuesday. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Delhi.
CCTV footage shows Bhardwaj riding along the Sector 168 stretch, from opposite direction of the bull, and crashing into the bull walking near the median verge of the road.
The impact throws Bhardwaj across to the other lane as the motorcycle skids away.
Family members said Bhardwaj was riding slowly and wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. In a post on social media, his cousin Pranav Bhardwaj said the bull appeared to panic and attacked him. "The impact knocked him off balance," he said, adding that the family later collected CCTV footage from a nearby housing society.
Pranav said his brother was initially taken to a private hospital in Noida, where he received emergency care, before being shifted to another facility in Delhi for specialised treatment. Doctors at the Delhi hospital confirmed he had suffered severe brain injuries. According to the family, his spectacles shattered during the fall, causing additional damage to his eyes and head. His right eye was badly injured, and although he regained consciousness on Thursday, his condition remains critical.
Dr DK Gupta, chairman of Felix Hospital in Noida, where Bhardwaj was first taken, said he was referred to a higher facility almost immediately after initial stabilisation because of the seriousness of his injuries. An eyewitness who helped take Bhardwaj to hospital said he lay bleeding on the road for nearly 20 minutes. "When I reached the spot, there was a large crowd, but no ambulance. With the help of an auto driver, I took him to the nearest hospital," the eyewitness told TOI. Police said no formal complaint had been filed by the family so far. A senior officer described the incident as a collision on a single carriageway and said the circumstances were being looked into.
Residents said more such incidents are waiting to happen because of the growing stray cattle problem on city roads. Cattle are frequently seen on busy thoroughfares, including the Noida elevated road.
Locals in sectors such as 76, 75, 78 and 62 said cattle frequently wander onto carriageways near vegetable markets and informal feeding points. A resident of Sector 78, who doubles as a traffic volunteer, said repeated complaints to authorities had yielded little action. "There is a T-point in Sector 76 where people regularly feed cattle, which only worsens the problem," he said. "Abandonment of cattle is a major issue. At the very least, there should be proper fencing along arterial roads. Without sustained enforcement, incidents like this can have grave consequences."
Urban planners and road safety experts have long warned that stray animals on high-speed corridors undermine traffic safety. Despite periodic drives by civic agencies to impound cattle, residents say enforcement is sporadic and short-lived.
District administration data shows the district has 19 gaushalas with a combined capacity of 13,000 cattle, of which nearly 10,000 housed are stray animals. The animal husbandry department records over 64,000 cattle owned by villagers across the district.
Officials said most stray cattle are actually owned animals left to roam during the day. Many are traced to villages in Noida and Greater Noida, where owners release them due to a lack of grazing land. Even when authorities impound cattle and shift them to gaushalas, owners often reclaim them. Despite removal drives, the problem persists, forcing commuters to navigate around cattle on busy roads.
-With inputs from Ashni DhaorGet the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with
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Ayantika Pal is a correspondent with The Times of India NCR burea...
Read MoreAyantika Pal is a correspondent with The Times of India NCR bureau, reporting mainly from Noida and Ghaziabad. She covers a diverse range of beats—including health, education, start‑ups, and social welfare—while also delving into in‑depth long‑form features, photo-essays, and human‑interest stories. Beyond her narrative‑driven journalism, she is passionate about photography, creative art, and music, which frequently enrich her storytelling with visual and cultural depth.
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