Body found a km away after 28 hrs; kin, locals' questions can't be washed away

Cover of drain missing for several months, residents say multiple complaints ignored, victim's wife files FIR against corporator; second such incident in city in 10 months

- HT Correspondent

Amid outrage over civic apathy and gaping holes in the rescue effort, the body of a 43-year-old daily wage painter, identified as Suresh, was found nearly 28 hours after he slipped into an uncovered and waterlogged drain in Lucknow’s Thakurganj area at 7am on Saturday during heavy rainfall.

The body was recovered at 11 am on Sunday close to Shantinagar intersection in the vicinity of IIM Road, nearly a kilometre from the spot of the incident by a local cattle owner, even as the victim's family and local people alleged that multiple complaints about the drain were ignored by the authorities while the risk to others remained hours after the tragedy.

This is the second time in less than a year that an uncovered drain has claimed a life in the city.

The victim's family and residents claimed that after calling off Saturday's search at 11 pm, the officials failed to resume operations on Sunday morning, leaving the work entirely to the family and locals until the body was found.

No lesson learnt

In a clear sign that no lesson had been learnt, the drain remained clogged and filthy on Sunday, HT's revisit to the site revealed.

“Even after the tragedy, no preventive measures were taken until Sunday afternoon when the LMC came and tied ropes around the open drain,” said Viju Soni, a resident.

Renu, the wife of the deceased, has filed an FIR against local corporator CB Singh.

The FIR mentioned that even after the corporator was informed multiple times about the broken drain covers, no action was taken by him.

When asked, LMC chief engineer (Civil) Mahesh Verma said, “The depth of the drain was around 5 feet, but due to heavy rainfall and waterlogging, it may have increased. The man may have been swept along with the flow.”