5-year-old falls into open manhole, dies

FARIDABAD: A five-year-old child became the latest victim of criminal neglect by the Faridabad civic agencies, responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of infrastructure in the city. Inderpal Singh, the only child of his parents, and his mother were crossing sector 55 on Sunday evening when he fell into an open manhole and died. Since the road was flooded, they did not see the manhole on the main road.
As news of the child's death spread, residents of the colony came out in large numbers and demanded that an FIR be lodged against HUDA officials.They claimed they had earlier pleaded with the officials several times to cover the manholes. After getting no response from police, they blocked the Sohna-Ballabgarh road and shouted slogans against administration officials. DCP (NIT) Praveen Kumar Mehta and HUDA administrator, D Suresh, arrived at the spot to placate the angry residents.
The agitating residents calmed down only after the HUDA administrator informed them that he had suspended the SDO and the junior engineer responsible for the maintenance of sewers.
The boy's mother, Sudha, was talking to her son while walking towards their house in Housing Board colony. She was holding her son's hand but had to let go of him to attend to a call on her cellphone around 8pm. As she answered the call, Inderpal began walking behind her. After walking for some time, Sudha turned back looking for her Inderpal but did not see him. She began looking into the open manholes and to her horror saw some movement inside one of the sewers.
She shouted for help and when some passersby gathered, one of them got into the manhole and pulled out the boy. He was gasping for air. He was rushed to the nearby NIMS hospital, which referred him to a private hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
HUDA administrator, D Suresh, and Ballabgarh SDM, Inderpal Bishnoi, have said compensation of Rs 5 lakh (Rs 3 lakh by HUDA and Rs 2 lakh by the district Red Cross) will be given to the victim's parents.
Raj Kumar Kaushik, RWA president of sector 55, said, "Our sector is divided into two by the main road. One side is Housing Board colony, while the other half has been developed by HUDA. But neither of the two agencies have taken the responsibility of maintaining the road, each claiming the other should do it."
Despite several attempts by Times City, the HUDA administrator could not be contacted. Though Municipal Corporation of Faridabad has taken over the maintenance and upkeep of most HUDA sectors and Housing Board colonies, it has not brought sector 55 under its control.