ROURKELA: Owing to sheer negligence of the city administration, a minor girl met with a watery grave after falling into an unprotected underground tank at the newly-inaugurated housing complex of the Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) for economically weaker sections.
Sources said the victim Sarun Badaik (7) had gone missing on Wednesday evening and was found dead a couple of hours later in the water-filled sump. It was an accident waiting to happen as the mouth of the underground tank built parallel to the floor was left uncovered.
Sarun was the only child of Rohit Badaik who works in Mumbai as a labourer. Her mother Saraswati is devastated. Yet to come out of the trauma of losing her only child a few days after shifting to their new home, Saraswati continues to be inconsolable.
The victim’s aunt Indrabati on Thursday said an innocent life was cut short due to the negligence of others, adding the child was born six years after the marriage of Rohit and Saraswati. She also pointed out the inferior quality of the drainage system and other manholes at the housing complex inviting more accidents.
After the incident, a team of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) visited the affected site, but was tight-lipped. Other residents said about half a dozen slum families were forced to shift to the newly-constructed affordable housing scheme complex from the unauthorized Bidyut Colony slum.
Sources said the RDA in partnership with a private player constructed the housing complex with 500 housing units for economically weaker sections identified for eviction. They claimed the housing complex is not yet fully ready, adding that despite lack of necessary civic amenities and glaring safety concerns, the RMC has been reportedly asking the slum families to take possession.
Incidentally, just six days ago, the Housing & Urban Development Department had issued guidelines for necessary measures before the monsoon to ensure public safety including covering of manholes.
The entire administrative machinery remained incommunicado on the matter. Rourkela ADM, RMC Commissioner and RDA Vice-Chairman Ashutosh Kulkarni did not respond to phone calls from The New Indian Express.
Chhend police station IIC Bijay Singh said it was an accidental death and parried question of negligence. RN Pali MLA Durga Charan Tanti said there is a need to fix responsibility for the tragic incident and steps should be taken to avoid a re-occurrence.