Mumbai:
An 11-year-old boy died after he fell into a 30-feet deep manhole at Mariamma Nagar in Worli on Monday evening. Tushar Shailesh Jadhav was flying a kite when he slipped into the uncovered manhole. Firemen struggled hard with locals to fish out his body, but it was found 15 hours later floating at Love Grove pumping station a kilometre away.
"On Monday, the rescue operations were stopped after sunset. The body was found at 7am on Tuesday," said a senior fire official.
At Nair Hospital the doctors declared that the boy died due to asphyxia after drowning. Residents alleged that despite several complaints the civic body took no initiative to cover the manhole which has been lying open for four months. In fact, they say that there are two more open manholes in the vicinity.
The police have registered a case of accidental death. "Further investigation is on and if we find any negligence on part of the civic authorities, then action will be taken against them," said assistant police inspector S Sawant of Worli police station.
Chandrakant Sawant, 24, a local who jumped inside the drain to save the boy, was pulled out on time by the rescuers. "There could have been two deaths if we had not pulled Chandrakant out with a sari," said Shiv Sena local leader Deepak Saple. Chandrakant Sawant has suffered injuries on his back and shoulder.
Tushar was a standard IV student of a private school in Worli.
This is not the only death in the area due to such an incident. Four months back a man fell into an open drain and his body has not been recovered yet. A wide open drain runs through the area.
Assistant commissioner of the G (South) ward NV Pai said that it is the responsibility of the sewerage operations department to check the manholes. "They ought to check if any such manhole is lying open. But many cases of theft of manhole lids have also been registered," said Pai.
There are over 1,600 hutments where the incident occurred. Although the area is under the SRA scheme, the development work had been stalled in 1995.
The inconsolable relatives of Tushar blamed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the incident. "Our family is in shock. It's difficult to believe that Tushar has left us. BMC is solely responsible for his death," said Sandeep Shah, cousin of the deceased boy.
Shiv Sena councillor Parshuram Desai alleged that although the manholes are covered, slum dwellers steal the lids leaving them open again.
"Several such cases of stealing of manhole lids have been reported. We have asked the police to keep a tab on this and monitor the junk market," said Desai.
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