Haryana Govt's callous attitude responsible for Mahi's death, says family

Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) - Family members of four-year old Mahi, who was brought out dead from a  70-feet deep borewell in a village in Haryana's Manesar District, have blamed the callous attitude of the state government for her death.

The 86-hour ordeal ended on Sunday afternoon, with the chief medical officer of the ESI Hospital in Manesar district saying that Mahi was brought dead to the hospital, and had died probably withing three hours of falling into the borewell last Wednesday night.

According to media reports, the borewell constructed near the house was illegal.

Mahi's father alleged that the landlord and the police did not respond to his frantic calls, due to which there was a delay in the rescue operation.

He also blamed the state authorities for not handing his daughter's body over to him, as soon as the doctors had declared her death.

"There should be a strict investigation against the landlord. This is because my daughter had slipped into the borewell. We called him, but despite that, he did not wake up. There should be investigation against the state authorities as well. When my daughter fell into the borewell, they should have handed over the body to me the very next day. Why were there so many complexities?," said Neeraj, Mahi's father.

Another relative blamed the government for their failure to take action at an appropriate time.

"The public is upset, and more than that, the villagers are even more upset. Everyone was praying for her well being, for the last so many days. The public was constantly praying that she comes out alive. This is a huge loss to the entire family. We blame the government for the inaction," said Jaikin, Mahi's relative.

Accidents like this have happened before in India, where children have fallen into uncovered manholes.

Lawmaker Rao Inderjit Singh of the Congress Party said in New Delhi that the administration has limited powers to curb illegal drilling of borewells in view of lack of formal police complaints.

He passed the buck on the common citizens, saying that illegally dug borewells must be reported to the authorities.

However, the lawmaker said that appropriate action would be taken against the person responsible for drilling this ill-fated borewell.