HYDERABAD: Expressing concern at the incidents of kids’ deaths in abandoned borewells, a division bench of Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday made it clear that it was the government’s responsibility to prevent such tragic incidents. “The state government should have the data regarding a number of permissions granted for bore wells digging and those which were not in use,” the court commented while directing the government to furnish details with regard to steps taken for prevention of bore well incidents in the state. It also directed to furnish details with regard to action taken against the owner of the abandoned and uncovered deep borewell at Chevella, where a two-year-old had died after falling into it recently.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J Uma Devi was dealing with a PIL filed by Prakash Buddarapu, a practicing advocate of the High Court, complaining that the provisions of law are not being followed by the persons who drill the borewells and failure of the officers to take appropriate steps in this regard. The petitioner sought implementation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court and WALTA to prevent such tragic incidents.
During the course of hearing, the bench made it clear that mere registration of case against the owner of the abondoned borewell at Chevella was not sufficient. “Place all the case details before the court by next hearing date,” it noted.The bench asked the home secretary to inform whether the chargesheet has been filed or not in the tragic death of Chinnari, a toddler in Vikarabad who fell into a 40 feet uncovered bore well, recently.The bench also enquired about the incident of a two-year-old boy who fell into borewell in Guntur district on August 15.
In reply, senior counsel Satya Prasad, appearing for the petitioner, said that the boy Chandrasekhar was fortunately rescued safely. While adjourning the case to August 30, the bench directed the principal secretaries of revenue, panchayat raj and home department to file their counter affidavits giving details about the number of permissions granted for digging borewells and action taken against those who had abandoned the borewells.