he tragic death of six-year-old Aditi after she fell into a storm water drain in HB Colony area in September and the massive rescue operation undertaken by the district administration involving various departments made headlines till the little girl’s body was found a week later on the beach 40-km away.
Thereafter, there has been no effort worth the name to create awareness on the lurking dangers in the city or to take up the issue with the GVMC.
But Prerana S Madan, a student of Std. VIII, did not want to be passive to the issue. With a view to creating awareness on the hazards of open drains and uncovered manholes, she became part of the JCI Vizag Achievers.
“Aditi’s incident was heartbreaking. The young girl was full of life and dreams, which were squashed because of negligence on part of authorities. The incident was an eye opener for all of us, and the best way to create awareness is to engage school students in the initiative,” Prerana, a student of Sri Prakash Vidya Niketan, told The Hindu .
Supporting her initiative, JCI Vizag Achievers organised a rally in association with SFS High School and SUN School on Wednesday.
Carrying placards and banners, over 200 students marched from SFS School to Satyam Junction.
“It has now become the duty of every individual to notify the GVMC of the dangers at least in their respective areas,” said Principal of SFS School Inna Reddy.
“A team has been formed to survey the entire city and identity all the open drains and uncovered manholes,” said Ranjit Sah of JCI Vizag Achievers.
“So far, in Seethammadhara area, we have identified four open drains and manholes, one in MVP Colony, and two in Dabagardens area,” he said.
“Each is a potential danger. To highlight it, we are erecting poles and demarcating the spot by wrapping caution tapes around it,” he added.
Apart from open drains and manholes, we also intend to create awareness on rampart dumping of plastic and other non-degradable junk into the drains, said Prerana.
“Because of the dumping, most of the drains get clogged. This is just the beginning, we have plans to take this forward,” she said.
