Two-year-old Varikuppala Sanvi, who fell in an abandoned borewell at Vallala village of Shaligouraram mandal in Nalgonda district on Monday, died of suffocation.
Sanvi’s parents Swamy and Sushmitha were heartbroken as the body was retrieved after digging a 30 feet parallel pit near the borewell on the wee hours of Tuesday.
Revenue Divisional Officer E. Venkata Chary said that the girl was trapped at 30 feet in the 200-foot-deep borewell and they could reach 18 feet of depth within a couple of hours after they undertook the rescue operations . However, Mr. Chary said that a massive rock delayed the rescue operation. Finally, they could reach the baby at 3a.m, by which time the the girl died of suffocation though continuously oxygen was pumped into the borewell.
A large number of people from the surrounding villages came to the spot to see the rescue operations that were underway throughout the night. Sanvi’s parents and kin were inconsolable on seeing the body. The body was shifted to Government Hospital, Nakrekal, to conduct autopsy. Later, it was taken to their native village, Deepakunta, for performing last rites.
Criminal cases filed
District Collector P. Satyanarayana Reddy said that criminal cases have been filed against farmer, Kattanguri Anjaiah, in whose borewell Varikuppala Sanvi fell, and also against the owner of borewell rig who dug it but left it uncovered.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said that stern action will be initiated against people who abandon borewells, without covering them properly.
Survey
He said that during the past few months a survey was conducted in district to identify uncapped borewells in order to avoid such tragic incidents.
He said that the administration has ensured that as many as 7,833 borewells across the district are covered. Six hundred more are yet to be capped, he said.
The Collector said that another survey involving all the village-level officials and elected representatives would be done soon to identify the abandoned borewells across the district.
1.78 lakh borewells
He informed that the electricity department had given connections to 1.78 lakh borewells, which are being used by farmers to water their fields. Mr. Reddy said that the entire district administration responded quickly in order to save the girl but all the efforts went in vain.
