Lucknow drowning case: Guard warned minor not to go near lake and left

Six-year-old Krishna slipped and drowned in the lake inside Lucknow’s Janeshwar Mishra Park on Monday. He was rushed to Lohia hospital where he was declared brought dead.

There were 50 security guards and 350 employees at Lucknow’s Janeshwar Mishra Park (JMP) on Monday afternoon and yet a six-year old boy drowned in the artificial lake of the park.

The artificial lake at Lucknow’s Janeshwar Mishra Park where a six-year-old drowned on September 17, 2018. (Subhankar Chakraborty/HT PHOTO)

This question seems to have puzzled many, but SP Sisodia, udyan adhikari of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) that oversees the park management, says a security guard “warned the kids (the deceased was accompanied by two other children) not to go near the lake”.

That was all. As the guard left, the children again went near the lake and while playing the boy named Krishna slipped into it and drowned.

Krishna had gone to park with his friends, siblings Lalu, 4, and Kallu, 6.

There were no visitors near the lake when Krishna slipped into it. Lalu and Kallu raised an alarm but no one, not even the security men and park employees, was nearby to hear them. The siblings then ran a distance of about 100 metres and managed to draw the attention of some park visitors there.

When Krishna was eventually brought out of the lake after about half-an-hour, it was too late. He was rushed to Lohia hospital where he was declared brought dead.

“This tragedy clearly proves the laxity on part of the security personnel. The guard who warned the kids should have sensed that they will return to the lake if left unchecked. He should have ensured that they left the park,” said an LDA official who did not want to be named.

THE PARK

• The sprawling Janeshwar Misra Park is spread over 1.52 sq km.
• JMP has 150 private security guards (50 in each shift) and 350 employees.
• The Smarak Samiti employees, who manage the park, are under direct control of the LDA.
• Former CM and BSP chief Mayawati had constituted the samiti to look after Ambedkar memorials constructed during her regime. But JMP was made during the Akhilesh Yadav regime and the samiti staff was deployed at the JMP as well.

Absence of proper arrangements also marred the boy’s rescue efforts. Visitors complained that there were no life guards or floats available near the lake.

“It is a huge lake, yet there is no equipment to save someone who is drowning. The guards don’t even have a rope or sticks,” complained Surendra Singh, a regular at the park.

“The only measure the authorities have taken is to put up a sign board warning visitors against going too close to the lake,” he added.

In November 2015, Shubham, 22, a B.Tech student had drowned in the lake. Then LDA had announced several safety measures to prevent such incidents in future. Presence of a life guard at the lake, fencing of the water body and reducing its depth by dumping sand in it were among major decisions taken after the November 2015 mishap. But even after three years of the incident, these decisions are yet to be implemented.