A 12-year-old girl died after falling into molten tar at a hot mix plant while searching for cow dung to perform Govardhan Puja at her house in Noida’s Sector- 63.
The victim has been identified as Kritika Mishra, a resident of Chhajarsi and a Class VIII student at a private school in the neighborhood.
According to a relative, Himanshu Mishra, who was also an eyewitness, they had gone out to pick some cow dung for the puja . The two were walking on a mound alongside the plant, when Kritika accidentally slipped into the silo containing molten tar.
“I was preparing for the puja , when Himanshu came running and told us that Kritika had slipped into a hot silo at the bitumen-concrete mixing plant. We immediately rushed to the spot, but by then she was charred to death. We tried to enter the silo using a ladder, but the temperature was too high for anyone to enter it. Finally, her body was pulled out using a JCB machine,” said Alka Mishra, the deceased’s mother.
Neighbours protest
After the accident, the residents protested outside the plant and alleged that it was being operated illegally and was a source of noise and air pollution in the area. The plant does not even have a demarcated boundary wall, they alleged.
P.K. Garg, the project engineer of Noida Authority, said that the plant has been sealed after the accident. The workers at the plant as well as the contractor, Suneel Gupta, have fled.
“Based on the complaint of the girl’s parents, we had registered a case under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of IPC against the plant owner, Pramod Gupta. The girl’s body has been sent for post-mortem,” said Akhilesh Pradhan, station house officer, Phase III police station.
