More lives lost to open drains: Child in Alipur, 35-yr-old in Paschim Vihar

A 5-year-old girl and a 35-year-old man died after falling into open drains in Delhi, raising the monsoon season's death toll from such incidents to eight.

A five-year-old girl who was playing with her siblings in Alipur in outer Delhi died after she fell into an open drain and drowned, police officers aware of the case said on Monday. In a separate case, a 35-year-old man died in Paschim Vihar, west Delhi on Monday morning after he suffered an epileptic fit, lost balance, and fell into an open drain.

The Alipur drain where the 5-year-old girl died on Monday morning. (HT Photo)

With these cases, two more families in the Capital are now grieving an all-too-preventable death, the blame for which can be placed squarely on civic authorities — the number of deaths attributable to open drains this monsoon season now stands at eight.

Giving details of the first case, police said a five-year-old girl, identified as Muskaan Kumar went missing on Saturday morning, and her body was found in an open, shallow drain later that day.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Ravi Kumar Singh said police have registered a case against unnamed Public Works Department (PWD) officials for alleged negligence which led to the child’s death.

Responding to the case, the Aam Aadmi Party in a statement said, “Our hearts go out to the grieving family, and we stand in solidarity with them. However, anyone found guilty in this matter, strict action must be taken against them.”

Giving details of the case, investigators said the police control room received a call on Saturday morning about a girl who went missing from Alipur. A senior officer probing the case said that Muskaan’s father Dharmender (goes by single name) and his wife (not identified by police) were working on a farm while their children were playing, when they suddenly noticed that Muskaan had gone missing.

“I last saw Muskaan running behind a puppy. I thought her sisters were watching her,” Dharmender said.

On the father’s complaint, police filed a missing person’s complaint, and initially, investigators suspected that the child had been kidnapped. However, later, they began to suspect that the girl may have fallen into a nearby open drain.

“There is an open drain near the farm which is filled with garbage and dirty water. The drain is around 3 feet deep and there’s no slab around it. The amount of garbage is so much that police and locals had to use sticks to poke through the garbage and look inside,” the officer quoted above said.

Around 10 pm on Saturday, police said the girl’s body was fished out by locals. She was taken to a local hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead, and informed investigators that the cause of death was drowning.

DCP Singh said on Sunday, a case was registered against unnamed PWD officials for causing death by negligence. “We had examined the spot and the locals complained about the risks of an open drain in the area. We have lodged a case and will summon PWD officials to repair the drain and join the investigation,” he said.

Dharmender said, “There were earlier instances when children slipped into the drain. We all have raised complaints against PWD in the past, but no action was taken.”

In the second incident, 35-year-old Sonu Lal, a resident of Peeragarhi camp, suffered an epileptic fit, lost balance, and fell into an open drain in Paschim Vihar at around 8 am on Monday. Local residents later found his body.

A video of the incident emerged on social media, in which Lal — a rickshaw puller — was seen parking his vehicle on the roadside when he lost balance, slipped, and fell into the drain.

“The police control room received a call about the death of a man in a drain. An enquiry was conducted and it was found that the victim suffered from a seizure... The CCTV footage was checked and no foul play suspected. He was admitted to SG Hospital and proceedings have been initiated in the matter,” DCP (outer) Jimmy Chiram said.

Police said they are yet to ascertain which agency looks after the drain, and are yet to lodge an FIR in the matter.