Magisterial probe ordered into drowning of 3 kids in pit at kiln

Lucknow: A day after three children of migrant labourers drowned in a rainwater-filled pit at a brick kiln in Kushinagar on Saturday, district magistrate Mahendra Singh Tanwar ordered a magisterial inquiry and directed officials to submit a report within three days.

The incident occurred in Dinapatti village under the Kasya police station area, where labourers from Chhattisgarh employed at a brick kiln live with their families.

Officials said the pit had been dug for extracting soil used to make bricks and it got filled with rainwater and became a deep pool.

According to reports, the children were playing near the kiln around 7.30 am on Saturday while their parents were busy working, when they wandered close to the muddy pit and accidentally slipped into the water.

One child, who was playing with them, escaped and alerted the labourers working nearby. Family members and co-workers rushed to the spot and pulled the children out of the water before taking them to the community health centre in Kasya, where doctors declared them dead.

The victims included a three-year-old boy, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, and a seven-year-old girl.

Following outrage over alleged negligence and poor safety measures, the district magistrate ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

The inquiry committee includes the Kasya SDM, circle officer, additional chief officer of zila panchayat and labour enforcement officer. The district administration also announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each for the bereaved families.

ASP Siddharth Verma said legal action would be initiated if a formal complaint was submitted by the families.

Senior district officials, including ADM (administration) Vaibhav Mishra, visited the site and inspected the brick kiln premises. Officials also interacted with the grieving families and examined the safety arrangements at the kiln.

Locals alleged that the water-filled pit had neither been barricaded nor marked with warning signs despite posing a constant danger to children living nearby.