Open drain swallows man in Thakurganj, victim feared drowned

Locals blame LMC for laxity; teams of SDRF, civic body and police continue search for 42-yr-old daily wager

- HT Correspondent

A man went missing and was feared drowned after he reportedly fell into an uncovered drain (nullah) during rain in Lucknow's Thakurganj area on Saturday morning.

The man, identified as Suresh, 42, a daily wage worker, had just left his home for work when he reportedly stepped into the open drain that was submerged due to water logging.

The incident, which occurred at around 7 am under zone 6 of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), has sparked outrage among residents who alleged it happened due to the civic body's laxity. As soon as the news spread, top LMC officials, including municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar, additional municipal commissioner Arvind Kumar Rao and chief engineer Mahesh Verma reached the site. A search operation was launched around 8:30 am with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), LMC teams and police personnel joining efforts to locate the missing man. The search was extended to the Sarkata drain where the Thakurganj nullah merges. However, Suresh remained untraced till late evening. “Our teams are at both the incident site and the Sarkata drain. We are trying our best to trace him. Once that is done, we will fix responsibility and take strict action against those at fault,” municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar told HT.