Date:18/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/18/stories/2007121857580300.htm

Karnataka - Mysore

Girl falls into open water sump, dies

Staff Correspondent

A case has been booked against engineer, supervisor
It is the second such incident in recent months

MYSORE: A six-year-old girl reportedly drowned when she accidentally fell into an open water sump at a construction site in Vijayanagar second stage here on Sunday.

However, the tragedy came to light on Monday.

The victim has been identified as Rishpal Singh, daughter of an air-conditioner mechanic hailing from Rajasthan.

The tragedy occurred when the girl, whose house is close to the site of a building construction in the locality, was playing near the site on Sunday afternoon.

The girl’s parents were out of the city for two days and her siblings were taking care of her.

However, the girl was found missing from 4:30 p.m. The parents, who returned in the evening, searched for her in the vicinity and later lodged a missing complaint with the police. However, around 10:30 a.m. on Monday, they found the body in the open sump.

The Vijayanagar police told The Hindu that a case of negligence under Section 304 of Indian Penal Code had been registered against the site engineer and the work supervisor. “We have identified them. They will be arrested shortly,” the sub-inspector said.

‘Indifferent’

This is not the first time that such tragedies had occurred in the city. Despite the guideline of the Mysore City Corporation to cover water sumps at construction sites, many contractors and engineers were “indifferent” to the rules, which eventually end in tragedies.

According to residents here, the corporation officials should conduct surprise inspections at the construction sites and penalise the responsible persons if they found water sumps left uncovered at the sites.