CUTTACK: The negligence of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) claimed yet another life in the city. A 21-year-old youth, Rahul Khati of Khandela in Sikar district of Rajasthan died after falling into an open drain at Nima Sahi on Saturday afternoon. The incident occurred while several parts of the city got severely waterlogged following heavy rains in the morning.
Sources said Rahul was going to a neighbourhood shop at around 2.30 pm wading through knee-deep water when he slipped into an open drain between Nima Sahi and Jhola Sahi. Nobody noticed him falling into the drain for around an hour.
Locals found his mobile phone at around 3.30 pm and an elderly woman said she had seen Rahul holding the phone and using an earphone. The locals then searched for the youth and retrieved him from the drain. He was rushed to SCB medical college and Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
Rahul worked in a cloth store at his native place and had come to the city to visit his relatives who reside in a rented house at Nima Sahi. His father Jitendra Khati also stays in Puri where he runs a tea stall. Rahul visited his father on Wednesday.
“I was informed my son had fallen into the open drain and subsequently admitted to the hospital. I rushed to Cuttack and was shocked to find him dead,” said Khati while urging the administration to take safety measures immediately before more precious lives are lost.
Khati has also filed an FIR at Purighat police station blaming negligence of CMC for his son’s tragic death Expressing concern over the lack of safety measures, the local corporator of ward no-26 Gagan Ojha said despite claims of the civic body of having covered drains in the city, a majority of them are lying open endangering the lives of people.
“I had accompanied the CMC commissioner during his recent visit to the locality and requested him to cover the 300 metre-long open drain. But, the civic body failed to put slabs on the drain due to which a life was lost,” said Ojha while holding the civic body responsible for the death of the youth.
Mayor Subhas Singh termed the incident as unfortunate and assured necessary financial assistance would be provided to the family of the deceased. “Steps are being taken to send the body to Rajasthan and put up barricades around the open drain as soon as possible to avert such mishaps,” he said.
This is the second such incident reported from the city in the last six months. On January 17, a nine-year-old student of Class III died after falling into an open drain that was under construction in the Bidanasi locality.