Boy feared drowned; search on

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 19

An eight-year-old boy was feared drowned in an overflowing seasonal nullah in Indira Colony, opposite Sector 16, Panchkula, this afternoon. The local administration and police officials were pressed into action to rescue the boy, but till the filing of this report, the boy had not been recovered and the search operation was on.

The police said the boy, Sameer Ahmed, a resident of Indira Colony, was playing with his sister and other children during rain in the afternoon. Eyewitnesses said there was a slope outside his house towards the overflowing nullah and he suddenly slipped and fell into it.

Local youths jumped into the nullah, but failed to rescue him. The nullah goes towards Baltana.

His inconsolable mother, Choti Ahmed, said she could not believe that her son slipped into the overflowing nullah. The boy’s father, Iftekhar Ahmed, a barber at a salon in Sector 14, said he, along with local residents, searched for his son, but failed to trace him. 

Residents alleged that the tragedy occurred due to negligence on the part of the district administration and the Haryana Urban Development Authority. There was no fencing around the nullah. Had the authorities installed an iron fencing, the tragedy could have been averted, they said. 

A local resident, Baljeet, said they had raised the issue of installation of railings with the authorities a number of times, but to no avail.