Boy tries to catch orange, drowns into Ganga canal

HARIDWAR: A 12-year-old boy fell into the upper Ganga canal on Sunday while playing on the banks of the river near Pathri power house under the jurisdiction of Ranipur police.
Police said that the boy, Akshat Chauhan, slipped and fell into the river while trying to catch an orange that his friend threw at him. Investigation in on in the case and police are trying to locate the body.
Akshat was a student of class VI and since his final examinations were over, he was playing with his friends, police said. His father is a local contractor and the family lives in Salempur village under Ranipur police station.
Station house officer of Ranipur police station, Ashvriya Pal said, “They were playing at the banks of river Ganga near Pathri power house where most of the local residents go for a bath. When he fell into the river, his friends begged for help but no one dared to jump into the river to save the boy. On information, police divers reached the spot and started search operation, which is still on.”
The boy’s neighbour, Anil Kumar, said, “Akshat was a very intelligent student and he took part in sports. I cannot believe that he drowned in the river. Police should take serious concern into the matter and water flow of the canal should be decreased to facilitate the search operation.”
However, it is not for the first time that such an incident has taken place. Due to lack of safety grill and protection walls several incidents of drowning and suicides have been reported in this area.
Teerth Singh, a local resident, said, “There are no safety grills and walls on the bank of the canal on the city outskirts. The precautionary measures are only taken within city limits. Several incidents of drowning have taken place earlier but the administration never took any action.”
Vikrant Yadav, SDO of upper Ganga canal, said, “There are safety grills and protection walls on the banks of the river. We have also put up sign boards but locals don’t pay heed to the warnings. Increasing the height of the protection wall is not a possibility as we clean the canal every year and it will pose inconvenience.”
On February 22, the Haridwar administration had decided to install grills and safety nets on bridges to curb suicide bids and selfie-related accidents after at least 20 cases of people trying to jump off bridges to kill themselves or accidentally falling off of them came to light since the past year.
However, even after almost a month, a detailed project report is yet to be prepared.