Plea in Delhi HC concerning death of woman, child in waterlogged drain

A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court concerning a tragic incident in East Delhi's Ghazipur area where a mother and child died after falling into an uncovered Delhi Development Authority (DDA) drain.

A woman and her child on Wednesday drowned after falling into a waterlogged drain in the Ghazipur, near the Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi following heavy rainfall in the national capital. The deceased were identified as Tanuja (22) and her child, Priyansh (3), residents of Prakash Nagar Khoda Colony.

The plea seeks accountability from the contractor responsible for the drain and requests a comprehensive audit of ongoing drain construction projects, including flood mitigation measures.

The court is scheduled to hear the matter on August 5.

The plea further seeks direction to the respondents to frame and adopt policies to address and mitigate the mayhem of flood-like situation in Delhi for rainfall and further to cover all open drains in Delhi with immediate effect with proper signage educating the common public to stay away from the drains.

The petitioner, Jhunnu Lal Srivastava, also seeks direction from Delhi Police to lodge an FIR and initiate an investigation of the unfateful incident dated 31.07.2024 leading to the death of Tanuja and Priyansh.

The plea alleged that DDA has acted in blatant violation of its own circular No. 135 dated 26.02.1986, wherein it was directed to all Engineers to strictly ensure that there should not be any gap on deep covered drains and no manhole should be left uncovered in order to avoid any mishap or accident.

The lack of a comprehensive flood management policy and the presence of uncovered drains violate the fundamental right to the health and safety of Delhi's residents. The respondents, despite frequent fatalities due to waterlogging and clogged drains, have failed to take corrective steps which are leading to further loss of lives, plea stated.

The respondent DDA and Delhi Police have failed to fix accountability and punish the erring contractor and/or staff for the deaths that occurred on 31.07.2024, plea read.