Now Reading: Father wades into open drain to find son, body found next day
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Father wades into open drain to find son, body found next day
A 15-year-old boy, Mithun, died after falling into an open drain in southeast Delhi's Jasola while chasing a kite on Saturday. His father, Awadhesh Kumar, was seen wading into the drain with…
A 15-year-old boy, Mithun, died after falling into an open drain in southeast Delhi's Jasola while chasing a kite on Saturday. His father, Awadhesh Kumar, was seen wading into the drain with a stick to search for him as rescue teams struggled to locate the boy.
The Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police, Delhi Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Response Force and Boat Club searched for hours. The operation was halted on Saturday night due to darkness and resumed on Sunday morning, when the body was found.
The incident has sparked a dispute over responsibility for the drain. The Delhi Jal Board said the drain had been handed over to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The Delhi government's flood and irrigation department denied jurisdiction, while the MCD said that department was responsible for maintenance.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Open drains in Delhi have claimed dozens of lives in recent years, but jurisdiction battles between agencies often delay fixes. The Kachha Nallah carries treated effluent from the Okhla sewage treatment plant and lies in a contested zone: the Delhi Jal Board says it transferred the drain to the MCD, which blames the irrigation and flood control department. No agency has accepted maintenance responsibility. A similar 2023 death in northeast Delhi's Bhajanpura led the National Green Tribunal to order a joint inspection by the three bodies, but no structural change followed. The Delhi High Court has a pending suo motu case on open drain deaths. The next compliance hearing will test whether any agency will accept ownership of this stretch.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
