Bhubaneswar: In a tragic incident, a 15-year-old boy was swept away after he accidentally fell into an open drain at Satabdi Nagar Bank Colony near Siripur area while he was on his way to tuition Sunday afternoon.
The Class X student has been identified as Jyoti Prakash Behera of Palamandap area at Barmunda in the city.
The victim’s family members informed the media that Jyoti left home around 2 pm Sunday for tuition saying that he was going to collect Sanskrit notes from his teacher, who resided at Saubhagya Nagar lane-7.
While going through an open field near his teacher’s house Jyoti lost balance of his bicycle due to heavy current of rain water and fell into a drain. Soon, he was washed away by the heavy rain water gushing through the drain.
Onlookers, who earlier tried in vain to stop Jyoti from going near the drain, rushed to the spot to rescue him, but could not trace him.
On being informed, Khandagiri police and fire services personnel reached the spot and launched an intensive search operation.
However, they failed to trace the boy till last reports came in. His cycle and slippers were recovered by the locals. The incident occurred despite the locals repeatedly requesting the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to cover the drain.
Local residents claimed that last year a biker had slipped into the same drain but was immediately rescued.
It is pertinent to mention here that the state government had issued a checklist to all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in June instructing them to properly install signages for any open drainage that could not be repaired, covered or closed.
In a similar in the smart city, a nine-year-old student, Tapan Biswal, of Nayapalli fell into a canal near the Passport Office August 25, 2015 while he was returning home from tuition with his mother.
In separate incidents, a teacher and a minor were washed away in 2017 and 2018 respectively after they too fell into different drains in the city. An old lady also fell into an open drain and died in 2019.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress and BJP condemned the state government and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation authorities for the tragic incident.
Members of the National Students’ Union of India, the students’ wing of the Indian National Congress, staged a dharna at the site where Jyoti went missing, while the BJP has threatended to initiate legal action against the BMC.
PNN