Hyderabad Rains: 12-yr-old washed away in dug-up drain at Kalasiguda
Hyderabad: A 12-year-old girl died after saving her specially-abled brother from falling into a drain at Dhanbazaar Basti of Kalasiguda in Secunderabad early on Saturday. Her body recovered half hour later from another section of the drain, 800 metres away, in the Parklane area.
The GHMC had dug up the concrete cover on the drain over 12 days ago. GHMC commissioner D.S. Lokesh Kumar later said the corporation had suspended two officials, M. Tirumalaiah, assistant engineer of Begumpet circle, and Hari Krishna, work inspector, for the incident.
The victim, P. Mounika, was spotted walking near the dug-up section along with her brother Kartik. Kartik lost his balance and fell. Monika reacted immediately, caught him by the hand and pulled him out. However, she slipped and fell into the flowing water, which carried her away.
They were going to fetch milk when the incident took place near the Shivalayam around 6.45 am.
Shaik Amjad, a scrap dealer who witnessed the incident, said: “It was raining at that time. The small girl dressed in a blue and red shirt was holding an umbrella in one hand and her brother’s hand with the other. Her umbrella broke due to the storm. I shouted out, asking her not to proceed as it was watery, but she said she had to fetch milk before it was sold out.”
“The water was over four feet at the junction. We were rushing towards them when I saw her saving her brother and disappear,” Amjad said. He said he ran to his mini-truck, got a rope, tied it to his employee Samba’s waist. “Another person, Sudarshan, and I held the rope and tied the other end to a pole. Samba entered the drain to try and rescue the girl, but the water pressure was very high,” Amjad said.
Pogaku Srinivas, Monika’s father, said: “Around 7.05 am, I received a call from a neighbour, M. Rajeshwar, who said that Monika disappeared after she fell into a hole. By that time, others in the locality rushed to my house with my son Kartik.”
Sandeep Patel, a resident, said: “We rushed to Parklane nala and found Monika’s body at a concrete structure and informed the police. When it rains, the water flow in the nala is high speed. The Mahankali police came to the spot along with Disaster Response Force (DRF) and retrieved her body.”
The Mahankali police registered a case under Section 302 (a) of the IPC and shifted the victim’s body to the Gandhi Hospital morgue. Mayor Gadwala Vijayalakshmi visited the mortuary, consoled Monika's parents and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the victim's family.
Dr Diddi Sudhakar, state convener for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said that at least two people are washed away after falling into drains through uncovered manholes or into dug-up stormwater drains, every year.
Mounika was a good student: Family
Monika, the only daughter of P. Srinivas and Renuka, was said to be a good student and eager to start Class 6 at a government school in Kalasiguda. She used to take care of her brother, who is specially abled, feeding and clothing him.
Family sources said Monika was good at mathematics and used to take care of the household accounts as well those of a small grocery shop run by her mother Renuka and aunt G. Nirmala.
Srinivas is a cashier with Kesa Viswanath Jewellers in Secunderabad for 12 years. “He wanted to give Monika the best education as she excelled in studies and helped the family,” said Santosh Kumar, manager of KVJ, said.
Kumar reportedly gave Srinivas '80,000 and also helped financially to take care of the cremation charges.
Sudhakar, who has researched civic issues, said that there are over 5.5 lakh manholes across 9,000 kilometres of roads in the city, 25 bottleneck nalas and 28,000 land parcels for nalas that have been encroached.
