Search ops on for 2nd day to trace boy who fell in sewer

The search and rescue operations were carried forward on Sunday to trace the 10-year-old boy, who fell into a sewer in the city on Saturday.

The boy, Deepak, fell into the sewer through a manhole in Shri Krishna Puri locality here at around 1.30 pm while he was returning home after delivering lunch to his father.

"A joint team of NDRF, SDRF and Patna Municipal Corporation carried out search operations throughout Saturday night to recover the boy. And the search operations are still continuing on the second day," Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi told reporters here.

Ravi, who was talking to reporters after inspecting the spot, said that the narrow stretch along the sewer is used by people, though it is not a regular path.

The path will be closed henceforth to avoid such incidents in future, he said.

Talking to reporters earlier, Union Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav termed the incident as "unfortunate" and alleged that such accidents are happening because the city expanded without any proper planning.

The Patna Municipal Corporation does not have proper equipment to deal with such a situation, Yadav said, adding that old officials, who had knowledge about the drains, have retired and their successors are not aware of the drainage system.

Local residents gathered at the incident spot in large numbers on Sunday and alleged that the manhole had been lying uncovered for months.