CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said, here on Thursday, the government made the best possible efforts to save two-year-old Sujith Wilson who died in an abandoned borewell.
DMK chief M.K. Stalin was finding fault with the government action due to political reasons, he added.
Speaking to the media, he said despite efforts the boy could not be rescued alive and added, Ministers and officials took part in the rescue efforts even on Diwali and during rains.
Earlier, Stalin criticised the Palaniswami government for slow reaction and wondered why the army was not called in to save the boy.
Stalin said the government had land profile of each district and must have known that the underground terrain was rocky. It took three days for the government to realise that the underground terrain at Nadukattupatti village was rocky, he added.
According to Palaniswami, the disaster response force included personnel from para-military personnel.
Recalling the death of a six-year-old boy in a borewell in 2006 in Theni district during the DMK rule, Palaniswami said none of Ministers had visited the spot. The Chief Minister said he was not asking why the DMK ministers didn't viist the spot and why the boy could not rescued.
He said Stalin was belittling efforts of people tried to rescue the child at Nadukattupatti in the Tiruchirappalli district.
The two-year-old Sujith fell into the borewell around 5.30 p.m. on October 25. He was stuck at 30 feet, but slipped further down to about 90 feet as the rescue efforts began.
After 80 hours, his body was taken out on October 29 and laid to rest the same day. Meanwhile, the Tiruchirappalli district said Rs 5 lakh was spent on the rescue efforts.
The organisations that provided rigs to drill a new hole adjacent to the borewell have not claimed any expense and only diesel was provided to run the machines.