Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh):A five-year-old boy died after a government-built toilet, allegedly constructed with substandard material, caved in on him in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. Police sources said that the incident took place in the Chapartala village of the Magalganj area in Lakhimpur Kheri on Saturday.
The toilet was built outside the house of Lalta, a resident of Chapartala in 2016. Police said that on Saturday Lalta's son Pankaj (5) was playing near the toilet with his friends when its roofs and walls suddenly collapsed on him and he died after getting buried under the rubble. "Following the incident, the child's father lodged a police complaint and the body has been sent for post-mortem," said Inspector-in-charge of the local Police Station Deepak Rai.
The family members of the child alleged that the toilet was built using substandard construction material adding that the then Pradhan in collusion with the contractor constructed the toilet using shoddy raw material.
Denying the allegation the current village head Shravan Yadav said that the toilet was constructed six years ago adding that at the time of the incident, two animals were fighting near the toilet and one of them collided with it resulting in the structure collapsing.
However, Lalata said that the toilet was built in such a way that she was afraid to use it from the beginning fearing that it was unsafe, and gradually stopped using it altogether. She also said that the then pradhan and the secretary got the toilet constructed by a contractor. Although she had mentioned the names of the then village head and secretary, she did not make any allegation against them.
