The tragic incident at Junjarwad village brings to mind three such incidents in the twin districts of Vijayapura in Bagalkot. None of the children involved survived.
On June 17, 2014, four-year-old Akshata fell into an open borewell in Nagathan village of Vijayapura taluk.
On August 3 of the same year, Timmanna, a six-year-old boy, accidentally fell into the open borewell in Sulekeri village of Badami taluk in Bagalkot district. In 2009, a similar incident took place in Devaranimbaragi village of Indi taluk where five-year-old Kanchana had died.
In all the cases, the district administration used heavy machines, and experts from NDRF also joined in the rescue operations. In the case of Akshata, the rescue operation lasted for over 50 hours. The case of Timmanna was even more heart-rending as even after 11 days of rescue operation, the workers could not retrieve the full body. The family buried the remains in the same borewell.
After every such tragic incident, the government issues strict instructions to close open borewells. But, little changes on the ground.
