‘She was holding her son when her body was found’: Day after mother and son drown in East Delhi drain, residents point to negligence
Bharat, who sells tomatoes, said police arrived soon and put ropes with hooks into the water to search for them. “Their bodies were found later -- half a km away from where they fell. Locals were the ones who spotted her,” he said.
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Pandey said the road near the drain was laid just two years ago. “Now, it has developed cracks and has potholes.”
“Tanuja was holding her son in her arms when she was found. His hair, which got tangled in her hands when she was trying to save him, was still around her fingers,” said Sarita, a resident of Khoda Colony.
At 7.30 pm on Wednesday, mother and son were found dead, their bodies discovered in a drain just outside Khoda Colony, opposite a CNG pump, in East Delhi’s Ghazipur.
Just a little while earlier, 23-year-old Tanuja Bisht and her three-year-old son Priyansh had set off from their home in Khoda to buy groceries from the weekly Budh Bazaar (Wednesday market). It began raining soon after.
As they neared the bazaar, her son suddenly vanished from sight — he had fallen into the drain.
“She jumped in, desperately trying to hold onto him. Her sister-in-law, who was also with them, jumped in too but we immediately pulled her out. Initially, she could not say anything. Then we shook her and she cried out that Tanuja was drowning,” said Savita, 40, one of the vendors who had set up their shops in a line close by.
The vendors immediately rushed to help.
Bharat, who sells tomatoes, said police arrived soon and put ropes with hooks into the water to search for them. “Their bodies were found later — half a km away from where they fell. Locals were the ones who spotted her,” he said.
Another vendor claimed there wasn’t even an ambulance there to take them to the hospital. “It was her relatives who took her and her son in a taxi,” he said.
A day after the incident, residents were angry. They alleged that the drain was never closed and it was waterlogged due to heavy rain. Shambhu Pandey, who has been living in Khoda for the last six years, said: “When it rains, the road and drain become one. No one can see where it starts and where it ends.”
Sarita chimed in: “Tanjua’s landlord saw her (Tanuja) in the market and told her to avoid walking near the drain. But as the water was waist high, she couldn’t see it…”
Pandey said the road near the drain was laid just two years ago. “Now, it has developed cracks and has potholes.”
“They have started some construction now… Just a week ago, a boy had fallen into the drain. But since he was rescued, no one talked about it,” said Sarita.
Meanwhile, the deaths as well as the ownership of the drain, which is around 15 feet deep and 6 feet wide, became the centre of a tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Patparganj councillor, BJP’s Ravi Negi, who visited the spot, hit out at the AAP-led government for negligence. “The Public Works Department is responsible for this incident. This is a bloodbath going on under the AAP government,” he alleged.
The AAP, on its part, demanded action against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and called for the Lieutenant-Governor’s resignation.
“Ravi Negi doesn’t know which drain is being maintained by whom,” said AAP’s Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the Trilokpuri MLA. “The DDA comes under the L-G… We demand that strict action be taken against the officials responsible and compensation be provided to the deceased’s family,” he added.
The DDA issued a statement, maintaining that 1,000 metres of the 1,350-metre-long drain had been handed over to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), adding that the section that came under it was covered.
“Additionally, a screen was installed at the junction point of the MCD and DDA drains to prevent the flow of garbage into it… It is pertinent to note that the 350-metre section of the drain under the DDA’s jurisdiction is fully covered,” it said.
The MCD, however, denied the drain was under its jurisdiction.
Back at the locality, a heated discussion on the drain continued. Sukarma Devi has been living in the locality for the past 30 years. Since then, the drain has always been open, she said.
Subu Chowdhary, 35, who has been living in Khoda for 35 years, said “even if it is covered”, the drain isn’t safe. “Why can’t they just close it during the monsoon? Even the grate they put on it is broken.”
Tanuja is survived by her husband, Gaurav (29), who works at a private diagnostic centre in Noida, and father Digambar Singh. They lived at her father’s house in Khoda Colony.
“They are from Chaukhutia, Almora, in Uttarakhand. Gaurav and Digambar left with the bodies for their village around noon,” said a relative.
The couple got married in 2018, he said.
Neighbours said the family was going through some financial problems, so they decided to move in with Digambhar. “She was a very good girl. When her husband and father were at work, Tanuja came to see her aunt, Gomti Devi, every day. Just hours before the rain, her boy was running in front of me…,” said Sukarma.
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