New Delhi: Ayvaan Yadav was playing with his friends in Greater Noida’s Kaladham society on Saturday evening when he fell into a 15-feet deep uncovered pit. By the time the 6-year-old was pulled out of the water-filled pit and rushed to the hospital, he was declared dead.
The pit, dug by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority for an under-construction tubewell, had no barricades, warning signs or reflectors around it, an eye-witness said.
“There were no safety measures. No reflectors or barricades. Any one could have fallen into it. Even a car could fall into it,” said Pranjal Rajput, a resident of the society who tried to save the boy. “Why was there an uncovered pit in a residential society in the first place?”
The complaint by the family states the reason for the incident: “An uncovered pit by the authorities for a borewell.” The police confirmed to ThePrint that there were no barricades around the site.
The contractor supervising the tubewell construction has since been arrested.
The tragedy has prompted residents of Kaladham society to protest outside the District Magistrate’s office, seeking accountability for the boy’s death.
The police said that they have launched an investigation and are trying to get more details.
“Had there been a barricade, the child would have been saved. We are investigating the matter to get a full picture,” said Knowledge Park SHO Vinod Kumar Chahar.
A case has been registered under sections of 105 of the BNS for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and 125 BNS for endangering life or safety of others.
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‘Found a shoe’
Pranjal Raput, 31, was washing his car when a child came running to him.
“A child came to call me and said, ‘A boy is drowning, please save him.’ I was shocked,” he said.
Rajput says that he couldn’t believe that something like this had happened inside their society.
“Why would there be an open pit in the first place?” he asked. When Rajput reached the spot, he saw the uncovered pit filled with muddy water. With the help of a long pipe, he and two other residents scaled down the pit to retrieve the boy.
“First we found a shoe and were able to locate the boy’s body with our feet. We pulled him out and tried to cough out water from his body,” Rajput told ThePrint.
Rajput couldn’t sleep that night. He says he started watching funny videos on the phone to distract himself but nothing would help.
“The water was filthy, full of mud. It could choke your organs easily,” he said.
Two days later, Rajput says he still holds onto the memory of the boy. As soon as the body was retrieved, it struck him that he knew the boy. He used to play with his dog and perform bicycle stunts in the society.
“He was a very sweet child. It was such a tragic incident. This is pure negligence on the part of authorities and the contractor,” he said.
The incident is reminiscent of the death of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, whose car plunged into a 20-to-50-feet deep, water-filled pit in Noida’s Sector 150.
The accident had triggered widespread outrage following which the Uttar Pradesh government had replaced the then Noida Authority CEO, Lokesh M.
(Edited by Stela Dey)