The 4-year-old died of asphyxia a couple of hours after she fell into borewell on Wednesday night: post mortem report
All hopes of four-year-old Mahi coming alive out of the 70-foot-deep borewell at Kasna village here were dashed on Sunday afternoon, when Army personnel brought out her decomposed body after an 86-hour rescue operation that had kept the people nationwide glued to their TV sets.
The operation — launched soon after Mahi fell into the borewell on Wednesday night during her birthday celebrations and was prolonged by almost 48 hours as the rescue team ran into rocky terrain — ended around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday, when a team of personnel pulled her out.
The girl, wrapped in a green cloth, was immediately rushed to the ESIC Hospital at Manesar in an Army ambulance, amid loud applause by locals who had gathered at the spot in large numbers since early morning, anticipating a successful climax. But the child was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The body was then sent to the Gurgaon Civil Hospital mortuary.
Post-mortem revealed that Mahi died of asphyxia just in a couple of hours of the fall. “She died three-four hours after she fell into the borewell,” said a doctor at the Gurgaon Civil Hospital.
The rescue team had reached Mahi in the early hours of Sunday, negotiating around a boulder in the rescue tunnel, but there was delay as it had to cut through a rock in the borewell also, where the bloated body was found stuck.
“While digging the borewell, the house owner had hit a rocky terrain. He tried to cut through the rock but abandoned it when he could not do so. It was in this rock that Mahi’s body was found stuck. The rescue teams encountered boulders twice while digging the tunnel also, and this caused the delay,” Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner P.C. Meena said.
Cases filed
He said separate cases were registered against house owner Rohtash and the contractor who had sunk the illegal borewell. “Three police teams have been constituted to trace and arrest them. So far, our priority had been to pull out the girl. Now that the operation is over, we hope to catch them soon.”
Delayed response
The girl’s parents and relatives blamed the death on the district administration’s delayed response. “Had the administration responded quickly to the situation, she would have been alive today. The police reached the spot almost two hours after they were informed. The efforts to pull her out gathered pace only on Thursday morning, after the Army was called in,” said Mithilesh, a close relative.
An inconsolable Sonia, mother of Mahi, almost collapsed in grief soon after the news was broken to the family. She had to be physically lifted by women police personnel and taken away from the hospital gate.
Earlier, around noon, the crowd grew restless as the rescue operation drew out. The people started shouting slogans against the administration, but the situation was soon brought under control.







really, its very sad news. i really can't express that how i feel when i heard Mahi is dead. our government is responsible for this.
The Governments everywhere should enact a law under which the responsibility of safety aspects of all under construction borewells should be made the responsibility of the respective contractors only They should be asked to leave the borewell well covered with a lid on top and should keep the pipe at least one metre above the ground at the end of the day during drilling stage . It is shocking to see so many borewells uncovered and with out any parapet wall . The dead borewells should be covered with sand, stones etc and closed once for all by the owners of the land or else they should be prosecuted.
May the little one's soul rest in peace..Heartbreaking end..
It's very painfull........
It's very sad news for their parents...Due to irresponsibility of authorities only happened..
why the government doesn't taking the action on the people who are digging the borewells and leave it as it is if they didn't got the water.
The way we put in the rescue efforts, cover such news, follow it, get sentimental and cry on such instances would surely make an outsider feel that each individual life in this country is held in the highest value. But haven't people in India died of negligence (of the administration, people, us) even earlier? Is Mahi's the only unfortunate death due to systemic shortfalls? Don't our farmers suicide? Don't the homeless poor die of the extreme heat/cold roadside? Don't the children in India die of malnutrition anymore? Certainly they do. But then, where are we at those instances? Why don't we (the media) allow those deaths the equal hotline coverage? Double standard self contradictory behavior. Hypocrisy.
Another horrific story of a small child stuck in a borewell. Is this rocketscience that we are not even able to cover a borewell? Why is the media not pushing the government for stricter laws for such negligence? For them this is a TAMASHA and Mahi will soon be forgotten to be replaced by another child. And so the story continues. Customary condolences, temporary shocks.
Just feel like crying! Is this fate? Or callousness? We hear another such story from West Bengal. Whom to blame? Every one will point to the other. Basic care is required by all concerned. Nothing rocket science. Please, whoever in charge of such work, take care - no shoddy work. Please!
What strikes me as funny is that no matter how many machineries and technology that the Army had, it was a villager who finally reached her in the end. I was hoping and praying for Mahi but once I heard that she was dead, I just cannot express it in words. God help the other children like her.
Very painful. May the departing soul of Mahi in rest.
May almighty give peace to the departed soul of Mahi...Every one of us would have been felt as to how Mahi begged for her life by shouting from darken & deep borewell, how The second to second moments were painful and troublesome for this little innocent child while trying to take oxigenless breathe...but nobody could do during those moments to save her life at the moments the death was coming to her in borewell. Mahi will never forgive the owner of borewell & digging agency who are guilty of leaving it uncovered..Its very sad that Mahi can not come back, but.... but .... promise with yourselves that none of us will keep mum if any open hole is found by us around us on our way which is dangerous to mankind...If u see this anywhere, PLEASE THINK AND REMEMBER FOR A MOMENT HOW MAHI WOULD HAVE FELT WHEN HER BREATHE WERE GOING AWAY FROM HER BODY,....AND THEN PLEASE call help line no. THEN AND THERE & ensure two times that your complaint is heard & corrective action is taken.
My heart goes out to little Mahi, we did not do justice to her. She came to this world with full of hopes in her eyes, and we betrayed her. I am sorry Mahi. I know, we have not learnt much from this incident. Another incident happens, we will not be able to reach in time to save another one in time, because we lack empathy and respect for life. We don't know how to plan, so we are not going to make essential life saving equipments available at appropriate locations, because we don't care if it happens again. We will not train police-personnel, fire-fighters at every ten kilometers, because we fail to learn from our mistakes. If the God gives you an option to chose life again, please don't chose India. Please do forgive us.
@mr vishwanath.. it is not good to blame on the side of gender base problem.. if it is a boy also., their parents cant dig a hole by themselves. every family has boys., and not all boys are locked with mom's saree for the safety of him..
This shows the power of Media. However I rarely have seen media channels covering any incident after its sensational drama is over. It would be great if medias track this case till end and ensure that some logical solution is taken. That will be productive and will improve the society.
very shameful incident for the humanity. I am depressed deeply to loose my hope yesterday when the dead body was recovered in decomposed situation . But very much surprised why army personnel does not have any kind of training which should be supposed to be used here to pull the kids from these type of borewell also they don't have arrangements to show the child;s activities from inside the well. Why there is no information of child;s alive or dead for more than 86 hrs ? Why we don't have any modern gadgets with our army personnel to see the child live ?
very very bad
How can we Indians take pride in our country when tragic man-made accidents, like the one which took the life of four-year old Mahi,are of common occurance ? What makes it more heart-wrenching is the glaring fact that it took more than three days after the child fell into the virtual death-trap that her body was retrieved. How can India face the civilised world when this is the best of rescue and relief operations it can offer her people?
Protection of a child is the duty of the parents primarily. This is obvious in all forms of life in nature. When the parents fail, they call neighbours. But there is no help available to careless parents. Most of the time these sort of accidents are due to carelessness of parents. If the parents can not take care of a child and an open hole dug right in front of their house, how do they expect the government to cover all holes. If one is not vigilant about one's own safety, is the government omnipresent to protect everyone everywhere. Each individual has to contribute to society and its the society that constitutes government. The Army must be congratulated for their tireless work to bring out an obvious dead body from the depth. If the delay in initiating rescue is to be questioned on the grounds that NSG and Army fought over the responsibility, then it is equally important to ask- why did not the parents dived in at the first place?
May the soul of the little one rest in peace. The owner of the land who kept the borewell opened is the real culprit along with the authorities including the borewell company who undertook the drilling work without providing the cap . It should be made mandatory to all borewell equipment providers to undertake the work only when the owner had agreed to buy the cap . Many a manholes, borewells live wires are still open. Can the authorites like Mayors /collectors who so ever is responsible conduct a survey soon and get them closed throughout India. Secondly if an ordinary person goes and complaint no one seems to be listening. Is India listening? Can we have a helpline like 108, 100 wherein we can call them informing about open well,borewells, livewire, manholes!
I can imazine the situation when mahi's father asking, coaxing the police station about the incident but taking it likely. They reached after 2 hours with out any planning. oxygen was given in the next morning. I ask why ? why ?
The first and the most responsible people for a little kids death is her parents who didn't attend her and take care of her. They should punished first not keeping eye on the surroundings in which their kid is playing. Its a bitter day and a bitter lesson to all the parents. I plead to all parents to take care of your kids. Even a small needle is very dangerous if picked up by kids. Some of the safety precautions which parents should follow are :- 1) While taking kids to parks please check the surroundings where your kids are playing for any pits, holes, or snakes and other poisonous creatures. 2) If you have any repair work going on in house or colony keep the kids away from them till those tasks are done and see to it that things are cleaned up properly and holes pits etc covered with thick and heavy items so that kids dont push them. 3) Don't keep sharp things, medicines, phenyle, floor cleaners, acid bottles etc in close vicinity of children or allow them in kitchen.
so sad it is...
it is very bad thing...not only in that village these are happening in many villages.. who is the responsable for this....
It is very sad.Why the government not taking care in closing the borewell digs ?It is a serious issue because a lot of childrens are dieing because of the borewell digs.I'm requesting the government officers to please take immediate action to closing the borewells after digging it.
failure in technology, administration, government, house owner, illegal borewell, authorities who had given authorization for this digging bore..., everyone should be punished without any MERCY... NO MERCY for who and all are responsible for this, even it is minister, cm, and PM also..., it shouldn't repeat with other parents in this country / world..,
we felt very sad for the plight of the little innocent girl and we shed tears once the news came that she is no more. we pray that let her soul rest in peace . The army unit did excellent job ,but it is unfortunate that ,local administration was unable to do any thing immediately to save the little innocent child. atleast please do take action on those doing illegal activities everywhere with or without knowledge of local administration. there will be lot many open bore holes manholes etc etc unattended by local administration and please don't wait till another little innocent mahi becomes victim . let all once again pray god that let the little and innocent soul rest in peace.
It is very sad news to the people who are living in the India.
Most of the new channels and commenters here are placing the blame on the government - could they have started the rescue earlier, could they have checked each open borewell and closed it; Some bordering on illogical and impractical - hold the collector responsible for every open well. The hapless homeowner, what will he do if he has to provide water to all the people living there - borewells are part of the answer, especially when the government cannot provide water to everybody. He had placed a slab of granite as a cover. If someone else came and removed if from its place, what can the home owner do? What about the parents and the adults who are primarily responsible for a child's safety? While it is truly a heart-rending situation, they have been clearly irresponsible in this case and are trying to pass the blame around in every possible direction. That they are suffering does not absolve them of their responsibility.
You might like to modify your headline. As facts now show, Mahi died of asphyxia within a couple of hours of falling. So really there was no battle to be won or lost by the jawans. It was all over well before rescue efforts even started.
I am sure both the owner & the contractor will be let out with some minor fine or so. Or the whole case will be put under carpet by police & officials. The child died is from a poor family. This is India, our country.
I am really deeply saddened by this incident...first of i pray god to give strength to Mahi's parents to overcome this tragedy...its really shocking to see the Indian Govt admin for not making safety aspects of children...because they are the FUTURE of our GREAT INDIA...I request sincerely make all safety measures related to children in all aspects to avoid such things in future...
Government should implement all the safety standards, It should be strict that deep drillers should follow these standards or otherwise no approval for drilling operation. If the Government not taking any safety measures, we should realise that we are in unsafe environment.
It is not very entertaining to watch this continuous drama enacted on TV about the accident which could very well have been prevented if safety procedures had been introduced on bore dwell drilling right from the very start.If a plug had been put on that opening and then when the pipes introduced,an enclosed cover also then it would have been safe for anyone.Lack of safety procedures will result in such deaths and should be addressed by the relevant authorities by introducing safety procedures to prevent such accidents.The people working there should work with common sense. I wonder whether legislation has yet been introduced on boats and carrying capacity and life jackets.If not we are going to see more boat sinking tragedies also.Our legislators have no capability.
First comment .. are you asking who is responsible? Well the municipality of course.. That question is part of Indian problem of not finding the right people for a fault. If you think too deeply, you will say that god is responsible and he wanted to take her away. But that is too much theorizing. The municipality is responsible for better roads and facilities. So, they are directly responsible. Nix them first. Rest will follow
How sad news it is.Government has been neglecting regarding to open bore wells and reasoning to many children deaths.Owing to careless of house owner,contractors, 4 years child lost her beautiful life.Every one should take responsibility and try to prevention child's lives from this.Media should involve in this type of accidents and make the government to wake up from careless activities.
First of all i feel very sad for the incident happened and i pray the god to give strength for her parents in order to digest the incident which was happened.It had took place due the negligence of the higher authorities.In the past also so many of the incidents happened due to the bore wells but i request the government to take care of those responsibilities to avoid such accidents.
It's very sad.May God provide strength in her parents heart to accept her death............
i am feeling very sad
This is not the mistake of adminstration. We cannot blame them. They did what they can do. I strongly believe that the parents should take care of children and not the army. what if an offcier have the same situation could we blame the people for they did not help the adminstration. Everyone will be eager to known the situation and they try to call the army.But is it not their duty to save someone before the arrival of army? People are the one who elect the corrupt leaders and after blame them not not doing their duty.They should think before they act.......
This is sad news for me. A little girl lost her life.This is not only government responsibility but every one should take responsibilities to prevent this type of accidents.
It was a sad news but i am not understanding, why the newspapers and peoples are blaming to the government, technology and army as it is the carelessness of the parents and relatives they cant see or care of there children. We drill bore for our personal use not for government even for drilling there is a permission required by the government but we don't do that, by the permission officer come checks the soil its humidity and also checks the proper drilling and gives report but we don't acquire this so how come we can blame to government. To save little money it cause a harm of ones life. it was the carelessness of both government and family members as government must sue or take major actions against the driller so that there was no drilling without permission and family members should take care of there children, they must make them dare about the danger things so that they don't go near such things.
How sad news it is.Government has been neglecting regarding to open bore wells and reasoning to many children deaths.Owing to careless of house owner,contractors, 4 years child lost her beautiful life.Every one should take responsibility and try to prevention child's lives from this
There are people who take things lightly and their only aim is to earn money by this way or that.They little care about the lives of innocent people.As long as law is lenient on such people these accidents are sure to happen.Push one of them in one of theses holes and the rest will learn a lesson.
Very sad .Who is responsible for this.The house-owner/the contractor/the baby/the parents/the police.By the negligence of all, the 4 year old baby gone to the separate world.
I blame the Indian mindset of 'Chalta Hai' & utter neglect of safety at constructions sites across India as primarily responsible for such incidents which have become regular feature (not even 5% are actually reported in media). The person who dug the well but did not install barbed wire, barricades around the well should be hanged first. People should stop blaming army, authorities as the child died within 2-3 hours of falling & no technology could have reached her faster than that. How greedy our civilians are is clear from the fact that everyone who participated in rescue took money from girl's parents except for the army. The army is used in millions of rescue operation around India every year & still people abuse it. Their job is to secure the border & not every negligent civilian. Poor child born into careless society.
How sad!The negligence of authority and the house owner has the responsibility for this incidence.Try to save the children life because they are more important to our future.Because our future only depends on them.
Lot many similar cases we have noticed lately.A large battalion is deployed for rescue operation & its always a head & tail chances. Why is there no security personnel employed 24x7 in the borewell premises, local people should be informed of any such project going on & hoardings should be put so that such incidences are not reiterated. Most of the victims are innocent kids oblivious of the areas they are accessing.
Your headline is wrong and gives a bad impression about our Army! The Army did not lose and in fact was successful in reaching out to the child.
Please be careful with your headline. The Jawans have NOT lost the battle. Their objective was to retrieve the child within the available resources, machinery, and access. They have done it. The people who have lost the battle are the departments responsible for the safety of citizens and including people of that neighborhood. Yes, I am deeply saddened by the loss of the child!
We take pride in being 'smart' and beat the rules and regulations. Very few follow protective and preventive measures: life-vests in ferries, helmets for 2-wheeler riders, fence around wells, fire fighting tools in apartments etc etc. Unless the society prides itself in adherence to safety rules, these will go on. We all will shout hoarse about little Mahi until the next preventable tragedy diverts our attention.
What our country lacks is an effective HEALTH AND SAFETY LAW. Unless these kind of incidents will recur. Our authorities respond to common man's call for help with reluctance. They are not interested any activities which don't earn them some extra money. We, the common people are repeatedly made fool by the authorities and governments. They have little concern about the wellfare of the general public and little time to think about it.
Look at that little angel if there is a god up there please keep her in your lap.This little angel paid her life for some one else fault.
It is very unfortunate that the girl could not be rescued alive. It was a forgone conclusion that the efforts will not fructify but kudos to the army for their relentless efforts. It is time that the Government woke up and take stringent measures so that this things do not recur again.
how many more lifes do we need to loose cheaply, before learning a lesson? it should not be yet another incident read and forgotten, many suggestions given by fellow readers to avert such incidents in future, if only they are implemented by responsible authorities, its just mind numbing how such incidents can happen over and over again justice should be brought immediately with severe punishments handed to those involved moreover those involved should bear the expense of raising atleast 100 poor children of the community for next 10 years i sincerely hope not an another life is lost cheaply at the expense of ineffective civil, judiciary, criminal branches governing our lovely India let each one of us make an effort, however small it could be, on a day to day basis, to change the face of our India
My Condolences to Ms. Mahi's family. I also appreciate the efforts by the authorities to bring her up.
Hang the borewell contractor, his carelessness is to blame. The administration is as usual hopeless, even if they have rules its of no use. There is no bribe involved in covering borewells so administration is least bothered.
Why the hell are bore wells left unmarked and uncovered, waiting for kids to fall into? For that matter why are there so many hazards all over our country ... from unfenced railway tracks to broken pavements ... when all that is needed is for things to be built and maintained properly by their owners, be it a household or a municipality. The answer is apathy and total stupidity on the part of the people of India, the great 'chalta hai' attitude. People laugh and call you paranoid if you follow common sense (and the law) by, for example, stopping at traffic signals or asking that workers wear safety harnesses when working at heights. There is little point in lamenting after a child dies, when such tragedies could be stopped simply if we stop accepting (and stop committing) negligence when it comes to safety.
It is a very sad news and may god bless Mahi's soul. It is very hard to imagine that such a little soul, how much pain taken during this period. On another way, thank to god that he releived her pain within Four hours. Despite many such incidents are repeating, still there is no prevention mechanism and rescue technology. Instead of cursing the politicians and government, appealing to all citizens, pls pay attention around your area and insist to the owners of the borewell during the Bore digging process. This is the easy possible way to arrest such incidents..
It was a practice of the administration to delay in each and every work, may be this is the csae but then also every time this happens, govt. should look in this matter, as one incident happen to my family too.
its is very sad news all of us so sad.
Why Rescue Team takes 86 hrs to reach Mahi? if Indian Army, experts from ( L&T ,GMR ) takes so much time, then how much every indian is safe in hands of army.we should learn from developed countries about Rescue Operations.
Little girl. Rest in peace. We are indian and cant do much on your avoidable death except blaming each other and then forgetting as if nothing happened.
What the heck was a 5 year old girl child doing outside her home past 11 pm & where were her parents
God bless Mahi's soul, The death of this angel is an eye opener to all the living beings of this country to understand the illegal activities around and to raise voice against the corrupt. This is not the first and will not be the last till we wake up and fight against authorities who had closed their eyes on this episode of bore well being dug without permission.
we are working for this idea already, there are some complications in it but we are trying our best we need some support from government for this project, but it is very sad that still our government is not taking strict action against these irresponsible.
Don't just go after the house owner and contractor. Cases should be booked against parents also for causing death due to carelessness. Stricter punishment should be given to parents. A law needs to be passed making parents of especially toddlers responsible for their safety. Why are we letting off parents loose? I think parents are getting a little more sympathy and lenience than they deserve. More than the question of parents losing a child, is the child losing her precious life due to irresponsibility, negligence, carelessness of primarily parents and then others.
It's very sad. we call ourselves a developing country and yet this news came. We have advanced so much in technology yet it took 85hrs to bring this child to open air. this is a huge embarrassment for country. Even now people only blaming the govt. , but i feel contractor which didn't followed the guidelines of SC,even the parents which allowed there child to play in such place , even the people living around which couldn't bring opened borewell to notice of administration. Even single of them played there role ,mahi wouldn't have to die.
it shows perhaps human life is cheap thing to buy.....
don't blame the administration always, what were doing the irresponsible parents ??? just give the child and hand over all responsibility to admistration and government ????
Why can we not train monkeys to do the job... they can be lowered down the same hole alog with a camera and light. All this monkey has to do is, tie a knot in the kids hands so that the kid can be lifted right away by pulling the rope. I think if this works, we can rescue a kid in less than an hour. Till this time, oxygen has to be maintained in the bore-well so that the animal does not get restless. One can say its an atrocity towards animals, but I think this will be the best use of such monkeys if they can be trained.
Shame on India's image. Is there nothing in such a big country to handle this kind of problem? If not, why not ask others for help and save a young life. Which central or local minister is responsible for handling this and what did they do? We have seen how other countries are bale to cope with such things.
How can you headline it as 'Jawans lose battle'?? You should have blamed the government and local authorities who allow such borewells to be made. Can you please review as to what action has been taken till now for the previous cases - was any penalty or any action taken? You should be writing separately about the Jawans heroism. You journos see nothing positive only sensationalize it. The poor girl probably didn't suffer for 4 days - which would have made it a worse crime.
If govt. of india thinks they can bring a law that after completion of drilling a borewell, the driller has to construct masonary platform if it is not yielded water or iron/plastic cap if water yielding is enough to pump water over the borewell as per the choice of owner of the land. Without doing any one of the above the driller should not get diesel for his drilling machine.
And lets put some responsibility on Parents too. When Parents know of a bore-well so close to his house and when they know they have very small kid, first thing they should do is to ensure such bore-wells are never left opened. One can say that someone removed stone above it that night...well, why was the Kid playing outside at 11pm? Esp. when this was her b'day, how could they let her go out of the house at 11pm? It seems she was playing in the Auto outside.. at 11pm? There is a risk everywhere outside, how can you leave a 5 yr old kid unattended at 11pm to play outside?
time was running out & to life of mahi, my deepest condolences to the bereaved family, and strongly condemn authorities concerned for negligence of duty for not attended to close the bore-well hole," ONE HUMAN LIFE IS HEAVIER THAN THE EARTH " Authorities concern will not put drama for few days and the culprit goes free,this goes on till another incident happens, corruption has taken one more life,
@ P M Vishwanath I didn't get from where you dragged in the boy-girl issue into this news. She didn't lose her life because she was a girl. The Army tried their best but may be it was the timing that couldn't save this poor soul.
It is same as if a 4-year old kid falls from 6-storey building (70-feet), and doesn't receive medical care for next 4-days. Doctors has now revealed that baby died within 2 hours of falling down. Human right violation is at its peak in India and is further deteriorating. People have become insensitive. Does Dr. Manmohan know this has happened? What worse can happen when men, women and children are dying due to negligence, poverty and inhumane societal norms. This news must be shocking for the prime minister (PM) that it happened in his rule. That's how PM cares for his fellow countrymen, women and children? Are they safe and secure? Such a late response can be dangerous for the safety of the nation from foreign attacks. More than 100 rescue workers perhaps didn't think of the situation from a baby's point of view who fell from 6-storeys, needing immediate medical care. Is our army this good for emergency situation like this? What happened is not pardonable, culprits must be punished.
No idea as to what could be the solution for such cruel and careless let-offs? The administrative authorities can only make rules and regulation on any practices, but may not be practically possible to inspect all the day-to-day activities happening in every province. Definitely a few hundred rupee/s expense for a covering could have saved the poor child. Some system has to be very seriously thought of to bring all the local works undergone, to be strictly under the defined guidelines ..
irrespective of the money spent where is the commonsense of the people who dig these bore wells. whoever was involved in digging the bore well should be jailed. Government should come up with a law regarding the safety measures that should be taken. only people who gets a license from the government should dig bore wells. constant inspection from the government should be done if the safety standards are followed, if not license should be revoked. finally whatever government does people who are digging bore well or laying out roads should have COMMONSENSE and understand how this would impact if one their family members would be in these situations.
Law should punish the persons who leave the failed bore wells uncapped.Cant imagine the grief of the parents who lost their child. Its the responsibility of the government & all of us so that we do not witness such sad incidents.Bore well drillers can put an end to these episodes.Local panchayat should act immediately to cap such bore wells immediately.
Law should punish the persons who leave the failed bore wells uncapped. Cant imagine the grief of the parents who lost their child. Its the responsibility of the government & all of us so that we do not witness such sad incidents.Bore well drillers can put an end to these episodes.Local panchayat should act immediately to cap such bore wells immediately.
What a waste of life it is. Its shameful that incidents such as these are occurring repetitively in-spite of all media attention that such past incidents had attracted. This is not one-off incident but a failure of entire system to follow simple safety guidelines. In a country of 1 billion plus where value of human life is in-significant god forbid, I wouldn't be surprised if a similar incident gets highlighted again in the future. We have lot to learn from these mistakes but sadly we would rather prefer to turn a blind-eye once dust has settled down on this one. In developed countries where children are treated like Gods, the Government there leaves no stone unturned to protect them from harm. In contrast, where there is lack of safety procedures are followed in metros especially in the way how school buses operate, lack of play-grounds etc. we are already a butt of jokes in foreign media channels. I quote from one such prominent paper 'Dig a bore-well to get rid of your children'.
This proves the utter callousness of our authorities. Even after scores of incidents of this sort, India has not learnt its lesson. If Mahi were from an affluent family, this would not have happened. My condolences to her family.
Yogesh Jain, while i appreciate the point you make, this is perhaps not the time to raise it. We waste so much money every year in unnecessary paraphernalia including entertainment to the top administrators through events such as republic day parade, independence day parade, beating the retreat - which waste precious time and money with nothing much in outcome. Not to forget fixing the toilets for planning commission at mind blogging figures. Here is a poor family and a mother who had strived 10 hard months and 5 years caring for this baby. The careless people for this must be punished for sure but this is the time to reward and acknowledge the soldiers who strived hard when their chief of staff is busy flying nations. If each of us have true empathy, we would not engage in vulgar display of wealth and partying immediately following such sad news - would we do so, if one of our own close kin had met such a tragedy ? Sankar
This is most unfortunate incident. Many incidents like this happened in the past, lessons are not learnt yet, rules are not made.
this clearly shows that officials are still not following courts direction on taking action against those who are not properly providing any safe measures on their wells,bore wells.this is the 3rd incident within past 5 years .as already known we woke up only sacrificing valuable human life.i express sorrow for that kid.this shows where we are!
Its really a sad thing that have happened. Cases like this have started increasing after 'Prince' or maybe we Indians came to know about these bore well accidents after that (live national telecast of the rescue operation). But today many more 4 year old children have died in India. Many more mothers have cried. Do they care? Do we care? Do you care? No one cares. Why? Only because its not that glamorous? How many children have died falling in bore wells till date? is it the real issue? How many children have died hungry? how many children have died because they didn't get proper medication? Do you count? Countless.
Has there been an FIR filed or criminal negligence against those borewell drillers? The amount of man hours and money spent on this rescue, why should it go from tax payers pocket? Why this is not being collected from the responsible parties.
There is subtle difference between science and silence and in this case the child has lost its life due to negligence of many of surroundings and atleast name will bring her back to the soil i think somewhere,and sometime for we believe that soul is embedded with soil for ever. we still fail to understand that prevention is better than cure.
I am so sad for this.Govermant shold take some important majors for all this.
silence of the government will cause other incidents like this.It is a very sad day as no one could not save this girl God bless Mahi's soul.
Another life brought to end by our sheer negligence and callous attitude at every level !! Could n't the so called all powerful media by their investigative methods ..atleast expose the contractor and the official in charge of this ? which may have a little bit of embarassment atleast ... for the people who are responsible for this negligence in seeing its safety ! Our system definitely will have some holes through which these contractors will come out clean littering their money power all over ! God save such children from falling into such pits
while expressing sorrow for the loss of a future citizen,I agrieve this sort of negligecy on the part of contractors who count money only.There are many instances of poor works/constructions which bear the other chapters of tragedies in our country.This kind of nasty culture must be stopped.
its a very sad news to all of us.i think it is the guilty of indian technology.i recuest to indian govt that pls improve our technology system.otherwise we'll see same incident the next time.
When it comes to public safety, India perhaps has the worst record in the world. The utter callousness of both the central and state governments is quite evident almost every hour when innocent people die in preventable accidents, be it motor vehicle accidents, fire accidents, or in this latest case the fall of an innocent child in the bore well, or name any accident caused by sheer negligence and insensitivity of the administrations. It is high time that the governments (centrals as well as state) come out with policies and legal measures to ensure public safety. One would advise our governments learn from the developed countries on public safety. The media should take up the issue of public safety instead of wasting your precious time on useless political dramas that have become almost an order of the day.
how shameful, we call ourselves a superpower in making and we cannot even rescue a kid who survived so long
I am very saddened. Even more, because this incident is a reflection of our national character. Our pre-occupation with "making do", our attitude towards doing a job well and tying up all loose ends, our elevation of 'jugaad' into something holier than our cows. I am sure your readers will not like my saying this - but you see this in almost everything we do. Everything is for sale. Everything can be bought. Some fellow can dig an illegal borewell, and fail to secure the site. And then a child dies...
Very sad. And for the billionth time, I am not surprised to see people asking for the Government to do something and for rules and laws to be passed. We shameless Indians need to understand that this has nothing to do with the damn government. Look around you, it is us and our callous attitude towards our civic duties that result in such unfortunate events. Stop playing the victim by blaming the government. Look around you for a distance of say 200-300 meters and tell me there is not something wrong (an uncovered bore well head, a pit in the road, motorists not following common sense while using public roads, school kids walking without shoes/slippers, people using the road like a trash bin for their household trash, spitting and littering on the road, etc. Look around you and tell me you can't fix these through a community/colony initiative WITHOUT the help of the government? Indians ought to some shame and introspection.
It is a very sad day as no one could not save this girl. India is quite backward due to the corruption at the top level including the UPA leaders. How can India improve when an unelected and foreign lady at the top of the Congress Party? Indian are still living with the slavery mentality. Indians have to be blamed to elect corrupt politicians.
God bless Mahi's soul.May He give courage and solace to her parents. Whoever helped retrieve her despite running into rock..the nation thanks you. Last but not least .. cant we have some litigation against this careless borewell owner that will see him punished properly to set an example? A life sentence would be just. It wouldn't bring back Mahi but it would save many other 'Mahi'.
The breath taking 4 days manual work by all to pull out the 4 year old girl alive went in vain,all were waited for a miracle to happen,but the worst happened.Let God give the family members of the girl's family to over come the tragedy. And the Govt Of India have to act tough upon the offenders so that such tragedy can be averted in future.
It's really sad to know that just because of someone's illegal and wrong deed, a 4 year old girl's life was taken away from her. It's not surprising how such a tiny mistake or call it a deliberation,can cost someone's life, but what is alarming is that these incidents happen so often and still people fail to realise that it is wrong. poor girl lived barely for a few years and that too, died on her *birth* day.This case should definitely be taken to justice or i will take action.even though i am only a child of twelve, i know that the world is unfair and so is the law and it is us who have to make change so that the coming children or even us,can prevent meeting the kind of fate the innocent mahi did.may her soul be in peace and god bless her and her family and help them handle this apocalypse.
a very sad day for everyone who prayed the god to save the child. I request all engineers and IIT students to develop a robotic arm cabable to supply food and pull the survivor out if possible. I know we have the caliber to do it
I almost cried after reading this news. I was eagerly waiting for Mahi to be rescued alive. Four days in rescuing a 4-year old is too much time taken. Even an adult person won't last long without food, water and motion in 40 deg C temperature. This kid may also have died due to claustrophobia, even adults fear of small spaces. It is shameful for the authorities and people that they took 4 days to rescue despite the fact that they didn't have to search the person. It is a shockingly, shameful late response! Search and rescue must be performed within time of survival of the person. Otherwise, it is meaningless. Same thing they did to control fire in Mumbai. They took 15 hours to extinguish the fire. That's way too much time to rescue a person alive. India has to revise/make disaster management laws. The job here was not to reach the body dead or alive. The challenge was to save the life. They failed miserably. My heart goes out for the family and bereaved people around. SHAME!!!
This incident is indeed very sad but what is even sadder is such incidents happen frequently. Immediately after the accident local authorities find themselves ill-equipped to deal with the crisis, precious time elapses, army is roped in and after days the victim is rescued dead or alive. A lot of public anger is justifiably directed at the government by us only to be fizzled out soon. There is no sustained campaign for establishment of a disaster management team for quick deployment with all the necessary equipment to meet any eventuality from us nor is there any willingness from the the authority to put in place one. However, we should also keep in mind that all incidents like this cannot be blamed on the government alone. It is not possible to check every single manhole, borewell whether it is covered or not. We are a part of this society and we bear as much responsibility as anyone else to do things that will keep such events from happening.
This incident confirms our belief that our administration is either sleeping or moving with such a miniature speed that one hardly can feel the difference. Even the direct order of Supreme Court is being violated this time. The problem lies in the fact that there is a nexus in between the corrupt system and politicos. Who is being punished in the Prince case, and what actions are being taken in order to prevent such actions. There is no fixation of accountability that's why this corrupt exercise is in practice. Despite of suspending a lower grade worker we do not see any action against the corruption. Real culprits are enjoying their position without any interruption and some times they are the one who decides who is to put accountable for.
When murderers and rapists have been pardonded by the President Patil last week how can we expect this government to take any action against a bore well owner. This is not the first time a child has died in a bore well, what have we done dig a hole to pull the bodies, everyone forgets it and it repeats somehere for some unlucy child. This government will not change, it is us who will have to take the mantle, if anyone one of us sees a open borewell we should immediately have it closed, talk to the owner, if he does not listen let us cover it ourselves. May Mahi's soul rest in peace, may God grant her parents strength in this terrible tragedy.
may her soul rest in peace. May this accident never occur again and the government of India must pass strict rules to cover the bore-well. GOD give strength to her parents to face the great loss.
it is more responsible to media to show case this type of incidents.....govt to punish the people who are responsible for this ....
yes, capping of the bore well, surely would have prevented this tragic accident. First of all, the outfit that is responsible to secure this site must be made accountable and punished according to the law of the land. Secondly, question comes to my mind over and over, why did the parent choose this place to celebrate the birthday of their little girl?
Capital punishment should be given to the borewell diggers for the irresposible methord. It will make seriousattention
Very sad to hear another tragic young life, which could have been saved if heath and safety were followed in the first place. The country is rich; these tragic incidents can be avoided if and only if all concerned bodies follow the policy of placing health and safety as top priorities.
I'm hearing about this kind of NEWs right when was i a kid.. i'm still hearing the Same.. 1st of all.This is avoidable -- As we know there are no proper LAW or awareness among the people who digs. 2. We heard a lot about poeple/College Students created/creating Child borewell Rescue device for this kind of rescue mission. -- Atleast you should have developed those and gave it to the fire Department..is that really hard to do??? -- Doing the same Old way of Parallel way digging for four days.Come on give a break..this method is not effective.. How many children have to die like this..to Prove this again and again?.. It'll be good if you Prevent.if not atleast be ready to deal with it. wake up india!
Mr. P. M. Vishwanath, It don't think it is fair to hint that the baby's gender had something to do with her death. I think it is very insensitive to suggest that this is more than an accident that is a result of sheer callousness of the administration. And criminal callousness at that!!!
its just the another story added. after prince fell down a couple of years back,so many same cases have occurred again and again bringing shame to govt authorities, still they are not paying any attention to such incidents. now who is to blame for this infant's death.i think its the time for govt authorities to wake up and put some serious efforts in order to avoid such incidents.
this shows human life is still not valued in our county and especially that of a poor.innocent girl died.its not only mahi but several other kids have lost battle in other parts of country by falling into a borewell.still we all citizens of india are sleeping!is there going to b an end to this or we are yet to sacrifice more lives? may her soul rest in peace.
The deputy commissioner and district collector of Gurgaon must be held responsible for not averting this man-made emergency situation. They've failed to implement a system where safety procedures needs to be published and followed by anyone licensed for bore well drilling. Instead of just covering this incident as 'another bore well tragedy' media should highlight the safety lapse on part of contractors, govt. officials, and parents. They should assist in getting the highest officials suspended so that future bore well incidences will be avoided.
This can be the last death, if the state police start prosecuting those who dig wells and deep holes into the land, without ensuring the safety and security of human beings. The sections 299 & 304 of the Indian Penal Code, which relate to prosecution for 'culpable homicide' amply provide scope for penal action. Responsibility for ensuring that wells and holes dug into the land are properly secured should be on the head of the contractor and everyone else, who was responsible for financing the digging and the actual work. Now, will the Government of Haryana take swift action to bring the offenders to book - who were responsible for the death of that innocent child - Mahi?
very Sad news. Supreme Court punish the DM for not following orders.
Another avoidable infant death? A small step for the borewell borers. A giant leap for Indian Governance. Orders of the Supreme Court on capping borewells are routinely ignored by both the Executive and the Lower Judiciary as are orders on Mosque Megaphones, Highway Speed Breakers, assistance to victims of road accidents, granting of stays and adjournments etc. etc.
I have a feeling that the rescue operation was not handled with brains. A child pyschologist should have been at the scene and some kind of remote controlled telecommunication device lowered down to the child for communication with the child. They should also have tried to lower down a kind of bag or sack in which she could have climbed into and hauled up to safety. Instead they tried methods where some contractors could make easy money and played with the life of the poor little girl.
Cannot imagine the plight of grieving parents, to loose one's child this way, beside the final helpless moments of Mahi. Who is been wreckless? Is there an answer for this apathy?
I am requesting to the government, please take the preventive actions on such incidents. Because, this is not the first time have experience. I guess every year it has been happen at least two or three cases like that...it is very sad news and hard to digests...
Book those responsible under culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The death should not go in vain.
Several similar bore well accidents have been reported from India before. An urgent law through ordinance must be issued holding bore well companies to install protective covers or walls around the wells. Bore well company (for new well) or well owner (for decommissioned well) must be punished for causing death.
All the news channels reporting the incident are now busy with what they do best - pointing the finger. Where is the appreciation for the Army division that has stayed up for a continuos 4 days trying to rescue the child?
All the time I was hoping and praying that Mahi would be pulled out alive from the pit, but that was not to be. Extreme sympathies to the aggrieved family members. Will those responsible, now see to it that such pits are not left unattended anymore and that no child lose its life in this manner anywhere in the future?
So the poor baby is dead. Who cares? The slaughter of the innocents goes on unchecked in various forms in the globalised India which is obsessed with super-profits and Fortune-500 billionaires. Now for a while,every one will be making the right kind of noise, and then what? Soon there will be another story, another sensational attention-grabbing happening. And dear little Mahi would be remembered no more.
Very very sad news. Pray God to give strength to those unfortunate parents. They need extraordinary courage to face this trauma for rest of their life. How many young children would have died like this. Would Govt. bring in strict control on contractors who do such work. They should immediately close. If one more child's death happens in this fashion, we are unfit to be a developing country. As I type this tears roll out for that child and parents. Extremely Sorry. Ashamed to call my-self a fellow citizen. Indian Govt. please do some thing.
Some where in India, such incidents are frequently repeating in all the Villages, towns. This has to be avoided in such a way to create a Law stating 'It is the responsibility of the digger to ensure it is closed properly in all the way even it is in process until it is completely closed'.
How many more childeren need to die for the authorities to take an action and issue guidelines and rules which deal with covering these bore-wells?
How sad! The life of this little girl was lost due to someone's utter carelessness. After each such accident considerable efforts and money are wasted in the rescue operations. It would not take a hundred Rupees to cover the bore well head properly which will eliminate such accidends. When will we learn from our past mistakes?
'Prevention is better than cure' is so often quoted that it sounds banal. Nevertheless these old words of wisdom hold ground whenever a tragedy which could have been prevented by SOME precautions occurs. Perhaps a life(and that too of a poor human)is the cheapest among all in India and the cost of measures(like covering borewells or closing abandoned ones) far exceeds it!
Very saddening news. A lot of effort was put in by the authorities. I am just wondering if they figured this out (if she is alive or dead) even before they reach the child. I saw in the news that they were using cameras to see the child.
Who is responsible for this? Why they have not been brought to justice? And what about the parents? Would this have happened if it was a boy? Let us think about it.
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