Bangalore: Geethalakshmi, the three year old who fell into a drain at Bilekahalli on Monday night, was not found despite an 18-hour search operation which involved more than 150 personnel from Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Police Department, Karnataka Civil Defence and National Disaster Response Force. The search was called off late Tuesday night after the last check point of the 1.3-km stretch of the storm water drain at Bilekahalli was breached.
The Karnataka Civil Defence said that “Our men entered the tunnel near the end of the drain and combed it for the body. We are certain that the child’s body is nowhere in this stretch.” P.R.S. Chetan, Officer Commanding, Karnataka Civil Defense said that that the water-level in the drain, which had initially been about 1 ft high, had increased to around 3 ft after a heavy downpour. “We have opened certain points in the drain as part of the search operation. It is now up to the BBMP to check the open drains and we will assist them, if required,” he added.
Officials had started searching for the girl on Monday soon after she fell into the drain on Bannerghatta Road.
Compensation
BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayana said that the search operations would continue till the child is traced. “We have combed around two-km stretch of the drain. Without the body being found, we cannot announce any compensation,” he said.
In around five years, though three children have been washed away in the drains the civic body has made little effort to prevent such accidents.
While the BBMP’s zonal Executive Engineer Srinivas Murthy said desilting work was completed a few months ago, he blamed the opening in the drain on the construction activity undertaken by the BBMP’s Major Works Department.
Meanwhile, after the search operations were taken up, the footpaths slabs have been completely removed, further endangering pedestrian safety. The BBMP officials say footpath slabs will be placed properly soon, but say things might worsen if it continues to rain. The inaction of the BBMP in this regard is legendary. Read another instance CLICK HERE
Geetalakshmi’s story
Geethalakshmi, a Class 3 student who was washed away in a drain at Bilekahalli on Monday night, was insistent about spending her Dasara holidays at her grandparents’ home in Bangalore. But little did her family realize that it would be her last holiday.
Meanwhile, the girl’s parents — Shankar, who works as a carpenter, and Kasturi, homemaker — have reached the city from Virudachalam town in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. A distraught Kasturi and some of her relatives were sitting a few metres away from the place where the rescue operation was being carried out on Tuesday. “Whenever Geethalakshmi had holidays, she used to visit her grandparents in Bangalore. I was shocked when I was informed on phone that my daughter was washed away in a drain at around 10 p.m. on Monday,” she recalled with tears in her eyes.
Geethalakshmi’s grandfather, T.K. Murthy, who has been a resident of the city for the past eight years, said before the Dasara vacations began, Geethalakshmi called him and urged him to bring her to Bangalore. “She was stubborn. When her mother and I tried to dissuade her, she even refused to have food for a day. So, I relented and brought her to Bangalore on September 29,” he said. According to Mr. Murthy, Geethalakshmi was supposed to leave for Virudachalam on Monday night. But the plan was changed as it started raining heavily. “After her return to Virudachalam was postponed, Geethalakshmi insisted on accompanying her aunt Lakshmi, who works as a helper, to her workplace. On her way back to our home in Doresanipalya, she slipped into the drain,” he explained.
Mr. Murthy said that Geethalakshmi’s clothes were packed and the family was planning to take her back on Tuesday night after assessing the availability of buses following the verdict of the bail application plea filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. “I spoke to her on Monday morning and was looking forward to seeing her on Wednesday,” said Kasturi, who was inconsolable.