A 19-year-old man drowned after he allegedly slipped right into a pond in Kheri Bhanauta village round 5pm on Thursday, following which a workforce of Greater Noida police and State Catastrophe Response Drive (SDRF) carried out a search operation and fished out his physique on Friday round 9am, police stated.
The deceased has been recognized as Prashant Singh who lived along with his household in Khedi village. Relations stated Singh had gone to play Kabaddi along with his pals. Later, he and his buddy Shivam went to take bathtub in the village pond and Singh slipped and fell in.
“Villagers knowledgeable the police concerning the incident round 6pm Thursday following which police groups rushed to the spot. Whereas Singh slipped and drowned, Shivam was in a position to get out and lift the alarm. Late Thursday night time, divers from the SDRF had been deployed to search for the man. Round 9am Friday, Singh’s physique was fished out of the pond and handed over to the household,” stated Awadhesh Pratap, in-charge of Surajpur police station.
Relations of the deceased and villagers blamed the Greater Noida authority for the loss of life because the authority had just lately cleaned the pond, thereby growing the depth of the waterbody by a number of metres.
In response to the general public data board erected close to the pond by the Greater Noida authority, the pond cleansing work started on March 10 and was scheduled to be accomplished by Could 25.
“The work not solely began late, however was additionally deserted throughout monsoon rain in the month of June. Since then, a considerable amount of pond muck, cleared from the mattress of the water physique, has been left on the edges of the pond, making the periphery extraordinarily slippery and harmful. The pond is about 20 toes deep, and but, there have been no security preparations corresponding to fencing across the pond,” stated Mahavir, Singh’s uncle.
In March this yr, the Greater Noida authority launched a drive to beautify ponds in all 124 villages beneath it forward of the monsoon. On Could 30, the authority imposed a penalty of ₹5.5 lakh on the contractor for violating guidelines whereas desilting and beautifying two ponds in Kheri village, considered one of which was the pond the place Singh died.
Vikrant Tongad, environmentalist and a resident of the village, stated, “The cleansing work of the pond ought to have been accomplished earlier than the onset of monsoon and the muck across the water physique ought to have been eliminated. Nevertheless, because the work began late, the contractor needed to go away the job unfinished when monsoon hit, which made the realm harmful for villagers and animals.”
Greater Noida authority further CEO Amandeep Duli stated, “This incident has nothing to do with the cleansing work as we a had not but begun the desilting of the pond. Solely dewatering work had began after which the rains got here and work was halted. The incident is unlucky however we’re not to blame.”
Police stated no criticism has been acquired from the household as but.
