HYDERABAD: Two boys met with a watery grave in a pit filled with water at an under-construction building in Uppal, here on Sunday.
According to police, the two boys Pallapu Revanth, aged 14, and Polepalli Manohar, aged 13, were residents of adjacent colonies, New Shanti Nagar and New Satyanagar in Uppal. On one side of their residential areas is an HMDA approved venture, located close to the Uppal Metro station. As the venture is vast and located around 300 metres from both residential colonies, it was being used as a playground by the local children.
Around 2pm on on Sunday, the two boys along with their friends began playing cricket at the venture. While they were playing they ventured to plot number 1101. The owners of the plot had started construction work and dug pits for laying pillars. The pits were around 15 feet deep each and were filled with water, till up to seven ft. Both the boys walked towards one of the pits and accidentally fell into it and drowned.
When both of them did not return even after some time, other boys went in search of them and found their bodies in the pit.
They immediately raised an alarm, following which police officials reached the spot. The two boys were pulled out of the pit and rushed to Gandhi Hospital, but were declared brought dead.
Police said it is not yet clear as to why the boys were there at that plot. “The two boys could have come close to the pit and accidentally fell into it. As there are no eye witnesses to know exactly what happened, we are verifying other aspects”, said police officials.
Meanwhile, parents of both the boys, who work as daily wage labourers, said that they are clueless on how the incident happened and that nobody had told them about it. “When we were at home, some boys came and told me that my son fell in the pit. When we rushed there, many people were already gathered at the spot,” said a parent of one of the boys.
The 1,000 square yard plot where the incident occurred is owned by an NGO I-focus, represented by its members Srihari and Bharath Singh and Mythri Association represented by Vinod Yadav, Shekar Ivan, Venkateshwara Sharma, Ravi Chander and Uma Maheshwar.Uppal Inspector P Venkateswarlu said a case under charges of causing death due to negligence is registered against the six.
NGO blames GHMC
NGO Balala Hakkula Sangham blamed the GHMC for the incident. They said since the corporation has not been able to provide playgrounds for children, they are forced to opt for any open places for playing. NGO president Achuytha Rao demanded that the GHMC be held responsible for the incident and a `25 lakh compensation paid to the families of the two victims
Place was barricaded: HMDA
A team from the HMDA who inspected the site said that the plot had been handed over to the owners, who had started construction works. They had also barricaded the site from all four sides, said the officials