No borewell uncovered: DC

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 11

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shivdular Singh Dhillon has said the block development and panchayat officers (BDPO) in rural areas and executive officers in city areas have already been directed to identify and collect data related to uncovered borewells in the border district. He said the reports of all, barring one BDPO, had reached his office. Neither any abandoned nor uncovered borewell was detected, he said.

It is worth mentioning here that the death of two-year-old Fatehveer Singh of Sangrur, who fell into a 150-foot deep borewell on June 6 and was taken out on June 11, had shook not only the state but the entire nation. Protests have been held in the victim’s village, accusing the government of being apathetic in carrying out swift action to save the kid’s life.

Stating that the disaster management teams were invariably present to deal with any eventuality, the DC said periodic rehearsals were conducted to gauge the level of preparedness.

A trained disaster management expert, Surjit Sharma, said the Supreme Court issued measures for prevention of fatal accidents of small children due to their falling into abandoned borewells and tubewells, which needs to be implemented in totality. He said it was mandatory for the land owner, before constructing borewell, must inform in writing at least in advance to the authorities, registration of all the drilling agencies, erection of signboard at the borewell site construction, erection of barbed wire fencing around the borewell, capping of well assembly by welding steel plate with bolts and nuts, filling of mud pits and channels after completin of works and filling up abandoned tubewells.

He said the apex court had ordered the state governments to cover all the borewells and tubewells with wire meshes to prevent children from falling into them. Following this, MC officials in urban pockets and panchayat officials in rural areas must be held responsible to periodically check the borewells and deep cavities for other purpose, he added.