Civic apathy: One more life lost

BENGALURU: Family members of Geethalakshmi wailed inconsolably and beat their chests as the nine-year-old girl’s body was fished out of Madiwala Lake on Wednesday afternoon.
The girl’s mother, Kasturi Shankar, collapsed on the ground in grief as she saw her daughter’s decomposed body, which had been in water for two days. Geethalakshmi was washed away in a drain when she slipped into a hole created by a missing covering slab in Bilekahalli on Monday night. The girl, who hailed from Virudachalam in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, was visiting her relatives in the city. She and her aunt were walking on the footpath after a heavy rain when she slipped into the overflowing drain.

The BBMP staff started the search operation at 8 am on Wednesday, and Mayor N. Shantakumari monitored it till 1.30 pm.

Meanwhile, members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) swung into action on the third day, equipped with oxygen mask, rubber boats and underwater camera. But the camera could not be used as the images were not clear because of the murky drain water. After combing a narrow stretch, the NDRF along with fire force personnel used a rubber boat and ropes with anchors to fish out the body.

Jitesh T.M., assistant commandant and team commandant, told Deccan Chronicle that the underwater camera could not be used. “We decided to go manually and we had set the target of carrying out the search till the lake. At 2.30 pm, we found the floating body which had started decomposing. It was later identified as that of the girl, and shifted to KIMS for the postmortem,” he said. On Tuesday, the eight personnel who entered the drain with oxygen masks were sent for a medical check-up. “The oxygen level in drains is too low. As it was a tough task searching for the body through the drain, our men were sent for the checkup,” he said.

Forty-five members of the National Disaster Response Force worked in different shifts for three days to fish out the body. They waded through waist deep sewerage water in uneven drains and cut through weeds and shrubs before tracing the body. The combing operation was carried out by 200 people from NDRF, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Service and BBMP staff.