Athidhi, the six-year-old girl who fell into a stormwater drain near Dr. V.S. Krishna Government College at HB Colony here on Thursday evening, is yet to be traced, after a search operation extending over 30 hours, involving the police, local residents, and personnel of the Fire Department and the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC).
The district authorities have requested the Indian Navy to depute a helicopter and divers to scout the sea, as the storm water drain in which she had fallen connects to a major drain that leads to the sea.
A student of Class I in Timpany School, Athidhi had accidentally stepped on to the uncovered drain, as she was about to get into the waiting car after her tuition. The entire area was flooded following heavy rain and she was swept away the moment she fell into the drain.
Drains encroached
The incident has come as an eye-opener to the GVMC. Most part of the stormwater drains are covered with concrete slabs and shops have encroached on them. This had created a huge problem for the search team, as it had to wait for over four hours for an earthmover to remove the slabs.
“The encroachments are illegal and are done in connivance with GVMC officials. Almost 3 km of the storm water drain is covered with concrete and there is not a single manhole or opening with grills,” said CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy.
The GVMC received flak for its slow reaction to the entire episode. None of the senior officers rushed to the spot and had taken a decision to undertake the search operation on a war-footing. The earthmover had come after four hours and the staff present were not trained to undertake the operation.
Locals take the lead
It was the locals who joined the police and the Fire Department in the search operation.
Over 50 volunteers, not caring for their personal safety, jumped into the major drain and walked along with sticks and torches, covering a distance of about 4 km till Lawson’s Bay where the drain joins the sea, till the early hours on Friday.
Taking stock of the search operation, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said that the GVMC Commissioner has been told to initiate an inquiry into the delay by the officers concerned and look into the encroachment issue and faulty construction of the stormwater drains.
Athidhi’s parents, C. Srinivas and Radhika, live in Bengaluru and are software engineers. She lives with her grandparents at Seethammadhara.
After getting the news of Athidhi going missing, both her parents and her two elder siblings flew down to Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Chinks exposed
The lack of a disaster management team to handle crisis during an emergency was grossly exposed on Thursday. Visakhapatnam, which is tipped to be one among the smart cities in the country, does not have a platoon of NDRF or SDRF stationed here.
The city police have decided to raise a mini disaster management force, from the manpower resources available to them.
The men will be picked up from the Armed Reserve battalion and trained to handle disasters, said Commissioner of Police Amit Garg.
