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5-year-old girl dies due to lack of drinking water in western Rajasthan
In a heart-wrenching incident, lack of drinking water, amid 45 degrees of summer heat in the parched land of western Rajasthan, claimed the life of a 5-year-old village girl, officials said
In a heart-wrenching incident, lack of drinking water, amid 45 degrees of summer heat in the parched land of western Rajasthan, claimed the life of a 5-year-old village girl, officials said.
The girl’s 60-year-old grandmother fainted for the want of water while the duo was on its way from the grandma’s paternal home in a village Sirohi district to her in-laws’ place in a village of Jalore district.
“The grandma-granddaughter duo decided to return to their home in Raniwada on Sunday morning for which they took a shortcut route of 15 kilometres through desert and hills instead of the 22 kilometres long route,” he said.
Police rescued the old lady who is now hospitalised at the government hospital of Raniwara town of Jalore district in Western Rajasthan.
The Station House Officer of the Raniwada police station, Padma Ram said that Sukhi Devi (60) had gone to her paternal home in Raipur village of Sirohi district from her home in Dungri village of Raniwada region of Jalore district of Western Rajasthan on Saturday.
Sukhi and Anjali did not carry drinking water with them while departing for Raniwada on Sunday morning, he said. When the duo was passing through the deserted desert area of the Raniwada region, Anjali started asking for drinking water from her grandma but no water was to be found anywhere around, said Padma Ram.
They also met a shepherd on the way who refused to provide drinking water to them after which Anjali fainted and died in front of her grandma who was also thirsty.
Later, another shepherd saw the fainted duo after which he informed the local sarpanch. The sarpanch communicated the incident to the Raniwara police station whose Station House Officer, Padma Ram, arrived at the spot and provided drinking water to Sukhi Devi.
Sukhi and Anjali were taken to the Raniwada hospital where Anjali was declared dead due to dehydration and heart attack while Devi’s treatment is underway, he said.
Padma Ram said that the wells meant for agricultural activity were just 1 kilometre away from the place where the duo fainted. He said that the probe revealed that the duo walked for 7 kilometres in 5 hours due to difficult terrain and high temperature.
“The duo did not carry any drinking water with them and also took the wrong decision of choosing a deserted desert shortcut route instead of the 22 kilometre-long one,” he said.
Reacting to the incident, state BJP president, Satish Poonia tweeted, “starvation, thirst and death are heavy on the political statements of CM Ashok Gehlot. It is the misfortune of Rajasthan that incompetent and corrupt Congress leads the state government and has transformed Rajasthan into a land of starvation, unemployment, chaos, mafia raj and crimes”.
Congress Spokesperson, Archana Sharma, said that the incident is unfortunate as the grandma-granddaughter duo took that route which did not have any water on the way. She said the matter will be probed.
