No more death traps

HOW many more kids must suffer the near-death ordeal before the governments ensure that the borewells meet the safety norms? That they are never left uncovered? This is the question assailing everyone as the familiar story replays. This time, a poor toddler in a Hisar village has had to endure the consequence of an apathetic society and system failing to seal the death traps despite many tragedies. Had the 200-ft hole simply been covered, the one-and-a-half-year-old child would not have had to undergo the trauma of being trapped for over 48 hours in the scary innards of the earth after slipping into an uncapped borewell.

The massive rescue operation involving police and NDRF teams digging with huge cranes a parallel shaft and then a horizontal tunnel to reach the child; the passing down of oxygen gas as well as food for the child, with a night vision camera keeping track of his status: they are all reminiscent of that shocking time 13 years ago when the rescue drive was covered live and the world watched with bated breath as little Prince was pulled out from the open borewell in Kurukshetra that he had fallen into. But despite exhortations to keep all borewells always covered, the series of such unfortunate recurrences have continued across the country, and not all with happy endings. The birthday party of a four-year-old girl of Manesar turned into gloom as a borewell became her grave in 2012. Haryana has become the epicentre of such accidents.

Taking suo motu note of the criminal disregard for life as children slipped into lethal open borewells with alarming regularity, the Supreme Court had in 2009 asked, ‘Does it take much to prevent such incidents?’ The state governments must strictly follow the guidelines issued by the apex court to protect unsuspecting lives from the dangers posed by unsealed boreholes. Open borewells without a safety net or warning sign must attract exemplary punishment for the owners. Regular monitoring by the authorities is also essential to give our kids a safe playground.