3-year-old boy falls into storm water drain, search operation on
Mumbai: A three-year-old boy fell into a storm water drain at Ambedkar Chowk in Malad East Wednesday night and a search operation is currently underway, a civic official said Thursday.
The incident prompted the NCP and the Congress to hit out at the Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and seek action against the civic officials concerned.
"The incident took place around 10 pm on Wednesday.
The boy, identified as Divyansh, was strolling outside his house when he fell into the drain near Goregaon-Malad Link road," the official of the Disaster Management Unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
"When the boy's mother could not find him, she panicked and raised an alarm. The footage of the CCTV camera installed near the building was checked, in which he was seen falling into the drain," he said.
A search and rescue operation was immediately launched. However, the rescue team has not been able to find the boy so far. Due to the heavy flow of water in the drainage, the boy is feared to have been washed away, the official said.
Hitting out at the BMC, NCP chief spokesman Nawab Malik said the incidents were taking place due to the "negligence" of the civic body.
He demanded that a case be registered against the guilty concerned under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
"A case should be registered against the guilty officials concerned under section 304 of the IPC...plastic manhole cover used by the BMC get washed away. Such incidents are taking place due to the negligence of the corporation," Malik said.
Another senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar also held the BMC responsible for the incident, while its Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil asked the civic body whether the value of human life has reduced to "zero".
Patil also asked why the ruling party (Shiv Sena) doesn't pay attention towards such incidents seriously. The Congress demanded that an offence be registered against the BMC.
"Twelve hours have passed, but the civic officials and the fire brigade have not been able to trace the child. Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar was not even aware of the tragic incident," Charan Singh Sapra, Mumbai Congress vice president said.
The civic body has time and again faced flak for not covering manholes and drainages properly, which had led to deaths or accidents in the past.
In August 2017, Dr Deepak Amarapurkar, a well-known gastroenterologist, died after falling into an open manhole while walking down a flooded street in south Mumbai during the heavy downpour. The BMC had later claimed that some local residents had removed the lid of the manhole illegally.
Caught on cam: 3-year-old boy falls into a storm water drain in Goregaon.
— Mumbai Mirror (@MumbaiMirror) July 11, 2019
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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