The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : SHRC seeks report on condition of Lilly Pond

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

SHRC seeks report on condition of Lilly Pond

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked the government to appoint a senior official of the Chennai Corporation to conduct an enquiry into the condition of Lilly Pond in Visveswaraya Tower Park in Anna Nagar.

An official release on Tuesday said the Commission took up a suo motu investigation following the death of a four-year-old girl N. Nandini who drowned in the pond on October 16, 2006. The child went to the park on a picnic organised by her school.

The Commission recommended that the State government direct the Corporation Commissioner to appoint a senior officer to conduct an enquiry to find out whether the pond in the park was kept clean on the day the girl drowned (October 16, 2006) and whether necessary sign boards were put up around the pond.

The enquiry should be completed within three months. Depending upon the outcome of the enquiry, further action had to be contemplated.

It also recommended that the government ask all the departments concerned to direct Corporations, Municipalities and Panchayats in the State to keep parks clean and hygienic. The local bodies should take necessary steps to provide fences around the pond and places where water was stored. Such a move would protect the interests of public, particularly of children, it said.

A Superintendent of Police attached to the SHRC, who conducted an inquiry, submitted a report to the Commission after recording the statements of the victim’s father, the school teachers and non-teaching staff who accompanied the child, the supervisor of the park, the gardener and the doctors.

The Superintendent of Police said that there was gross negligence and lethargic attitude on the part of the teachers, assistants and the school authorities, who had not taken any precautionary measure.

Similarly, the supervisor of the park and the Corporation authorities had been blamed for not keeping the pond clean and for not putting up sign boards.

This view was endorsed by the Additional Director-General of Police/Director, Investigation, SHRC, according to the release.

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