New Delhi: Frequent incidents of children falling into open borewells across the country reveal serious lapses in enforcing the Supreme Court's 2010 guidelines aimed at preventing such tragedies.
Most recently on December 23, 2024, a three-year-old girl, Chetna, fell into a 700-foot-deep borewell outside her house in Rajasthan's Kotputli-Behror district. Rescue operations by the NDRF and SDRF are going on.
Earlier, on December 9, Aryan, a five-year-old boy, fell into a 150-foot borewell in Rajasthan's Dausa. Despite a gruelling 55-hour rescue effort, he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
Other incidents in 2024 include
- November 20, Barmer, Rajasthan: A four-year-old boy died after falling into a 160-foot borewell. He drowned in water present at 100 feet, despite a six-hour rescue effort.
- September 19, Dausa, Rajasthan: A two-year-old girl was successfully rescued after being trapped in a 35-foot borewell for 18 hours.
- July 29, Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh: A three-year-old girl, Shoumya, fell into a 25-foot borewell and was rescued after five and a half hours, but later died in the hospital.
- June 15, Amreli, Gujarat: A toddler fell into a 45-50 foot borewell. Despite a 15-hour operation, the child was declared dead after being rescued.
- May 28, Alwar, Rajasthan: A five-year-old boy fell into a 40-foot borewell in Laxmangarh, but was rescued safely after three hours.
- April 12, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh: A six-year-old boy died after being trapped for 45 hours in an open borewell in Manika village.
- April 4, Vijayapura, Karnataka: A two-year-old boy was rescued after being trapped for 20 hours in a borewell outside his house.
- January 2, Devbhumi Dwarka, Gujarat: A two-and-a-half-year-old girl, Angel Sakhra, died in a hospital after an eight-hour rescue operation from a 30-foot borewell.
The Supreme Court issued comprehensive guidelines in 2010 to prevent such incidents, including fencing around borewells, steel covers and proper filling of abandoned borewells. The order also mandated registrations of drilling agencies and monitoring by local authorities.
"The SC's 2010 order was explicit about securing open borewells and filling abandoned ones. Yet enforcement remains weak, resulting in recurring tragedies," said a legal expert.
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