Hoshiarpur tragedy opens old wounds for Sangrur victim Fatehveer Singh's kin

Tribune News Service

Parvesh Sharma

Bhagwanpura, May 23

The death of Hrithik Roshan (6) in Hoshiarpur on Sunday has scraped open the old wounds of the family of two-year-old Fatehveer Singh, who died in a similar mishap in Bhagwanpura village in 2019. Fatehveer was pulled out dead from the borewell after 100-hour operation on June 11.

Recalling the tragedy, Fatehveer’s grandfather Rohi Singh demanded the state should bring a strict policy against open borewells and conduct periodic inspections. He also expressed dissatisfaction over the present action to prevent such mishaps.

“My grandson would have been alive today if he hadn’t fallen into a borewell. After hearing the news of the Hoshiarpur boy’s death yesterday, all tragic memories of 2019 came rushing back. Though my daughter-in-law gave birth to another boy last year, but our family can never forget Fatehveer and his memories,” Singh said, while struggling to hold back tears and looking at his grandson’s photographs in the house.

“Since a majority of farmers are illiterate, they don’t know about law and disposing of abandoned borewells. At many places, farmers abandon their borewells and just cover them with a sack, which is dangerous. The state must recognise this as another major problem to prevent more deaths,” he added.

Fatehveer fell into an abandoned borewell while playing in a field in front of his house in Bhagwanpura village on June 6 evening in 2019. The shaft was covered with a piece of cloth, the child accidentally climbed it and fell inside.

Meanwhile, Daman Thind Bajwa, BJP leader from Sunam, said: “Open borewells are becoming a major problem. After Fatehveer’s death, the Congress government had made tall claims but nothing was done. Now, the AAP government should look into the matter seriously.”

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