Delhi drains claim 7-yr-old in familiar fatal monsoon tale

The boy – Prince Kumar – drowned early on Sunday and his body was discovered in the evening, according to Delhi Police.

A day after a seven-year-old boy was killed after falling in an open drain in northwest Delhi’s Wazirpur early on Sunday morning, civic agencies and political parties again attempted to deflect accountability as a family suffered yet another preventable tragedy that has become far too common in Delhi, especially during the monsoon.

The uncovered part of the drain where the boy fell. (HT)

The boy – Prince Kumar – drowned early on Sunday and his body was discovered in the evening, according to Delhi Police. Locals said the drain was cleaned around 8-10 days ago, but sanitation workers left the six-foot-deep drain uncovered.

Nearly a day-and-a-half after the incident, MCD admitted that the drain was under its purview and that plans to cover the drain were in the making.

Police on Monday said they will take legal action as per facts and that an FIR has been registered in the case. However, no agency has been named in the FIR yet.

The boy left home around 5.30am, after which he went to a public washroom to bathe and returned home. He then left his house alone to play and was passing through a street in front of his house when he slipped into the uncovered drain. Since it was early in the morning, and no one was around, no one found him till hours later, when a search party was launched to find him.

“The parents contacted us in the afternoon and told us that their child was missing for hours. We sent a team to check the locality and registered a kidnapping case. CCTVs around the house were checked and the child was seen on the streets near the drain. A team was sent there and it was found that the baby had drowned in the drain. His body was fished out with the help of locals,” said Jitendra Mani, DCP (northwest).

Around 5-6pm, police and locals managed to find his body and took him to the hospital but it was too late – he was long dead.

His death mirrors an incident that took place three weeks ago (July 31) when a mother-son duo drowned in a waterlogged drain in Ghazipur, following which the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) blamed each other.

Arjun Kumar, a local, told the media that Prince was not the first victim and three-four kids fell into the drain in recent weeks, but were rescued. “Prince could not survive because he was alone and it was early. MCD covered the drain a few months ago but recently, they again cleared and cleaned everything. The drain was again left open. Our kids are not safe since they all use public washrooms at odd hours and anything can happen,” he said.

The victim’s family lives in a slum cluster overseen by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

DCP Mani said the drain is located in an industrial area managed by the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC). But a senior DSIIDC officer, who refused to be named, said the drain is not under them and MCD is responsible for its maintenance. To be sure, both MCD and DSIIDC (which falls under the Delhi government) are controlled by the Aam Aadmi Party.

In a statement on Monday, MCD admitted that the drain was under its purview and that it removed silt and floating garbage from the drain, ensuring that the waste was placed on the side for timely transportation.

“Despite these efforts, the volume of waste being dumped into the drains remains a significant challenge. MCD is committed to remove silt periodically to maintain proper drainage flow and prevent blockages. Openings in the drainage system are strategically maintained to facilitate the efficient removal of silt, allowing for continuous monitoring and maintenance,” it said.

“There is already a proposal to cover the drain whereas possible through RCC and precast slabs to prevent any such unfortunate incidents in the future wherever feasible. This initiative aims to prevent any unfortunate incidents in the future, ensuring that the city’s drainage infrastructure is both safe and effective,” it said.

Blame game persists

Delhi has 426.55 km of natural drainage lines, 3,311.54 km of engineered stormwater drains, and 201 natural drains across three major basins with at least nine different agencies overseeing them all. Every monsoon, this translates to a blame game with every agency attempting to deflect the blame on others, especially after the episodes of heavy waterlogging or such tragic deaths.

Yogesh Verma, the area BJP councillor and former deputy mayor, said that several parts of the drain are still uncovered. “The drain and roads are managed by the DSIIDC while the cleaning work is being carried out by MCD. After cleaning the clogged drain, the recovered silt and garbage was still lying on the road and the drain had not been covered. Now, the drain covers can only be redeveloped by DSIIDC as drains come under their ownership,” he said.

He added that he approached MCD to cover the drains in the entire area, but the officials said last week that it would need an expenditure of ₹2 crore and the corporation had no funds. “Both MCD and DSIIDC should be held accountable for the death of the child,” Verma said.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said: “Both agencies have been negligent in ensuring public safety. Due to the inaction of the Arvind Kejriwal government and the lack of planning to address waterlogging, there has been an unexpectedly high number of accidents involving drowning in waterlogged and overflowing drains during this year’s monsoon in Delhi.”

In a statement, the AAP said: “The death of the child is extremely unfortunate. We stand in solidarity with the parents of the deceased and we will extend any help necessary. The BJP should at least not do theatrics over the death of a child, and they are well aware that the councillor of the area belongs to the BJP whose duty was to ensure that the drain remained covered.”

“It is extremely unfortunate that the toilets built by the AAP in the area were dismantled on the orders of the LG, due to which the child was forced to relieve himself in the open and he slipped into the drain,” the AAP said.

The LG’s office hit back at the AAP. “It is all the more unfortunate, yet not unlike AAP that they are playing dirty politics instead of owning up to their faults. The LG did not ask for removal of any toilets. On the contrary, LG has been trying, despite shameless opposition by the AAP to improve things in Delhi. He got toilets constructed at severely affected ISBT and Kamla Market to name a few,” the LG’s office said.

“The Kejriwal government, with UD, MCD and DJB, all under its full control, should have made toilets, if indeed they are lacking. Stop playing these games and focus on governance. People are seeing things. They’d not forgive,” the LG’s office said.

Died before his first Raksha Bandhan

Prince was a Class 2 student of a Delhi government school, his family said. His family members said they were preparing for their first Raksha Bandhan. Prince has a year-old younger sister, Anjali.

The boy’s mother, Janki, said, “We were all waiting for Rakhi… I still feel he will come back. I can’t deal with this.”

Talking about the incident, she said, “The ceiling fan in our hall was not working and we spent the entire Saturday night outside our house. While Anjali and I went to my husband’s parents’ house (same lane), Prince refused to sleep and kept playing. I wish I had stopped him. He even left home at 5.30am to take a bath. He wanted to buy Rakhi for his sister but was never seen again. In the evening, we found him wrapped in garbage… I still can’t forget what I saw. He was a sweet boy.”

Prince’s father, Suresh Kumar, is a labourer and lives with his wife and children at a rented accommodation in Wazirpur block A.

Saroj Devi, Prince’s aunt, who lives nearby, said, “This is not the first time this has happened. Around four months back, our cousin’s son also fell into the drain. He was 10 years old and luckily, was rescued by locals. After the incident, the authorities had covered the drain but 8-10 days back, they again cleaned the drain and left it open. Now, we have lost our boy.”