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SC notice to Centre, states on plea to prevent borewell deaths of children

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, all states and Union territories on a plea accusing the authorities of failing to prevent deaths of children after falling into open or abandoned borewells and tube wells across the country.

A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah also sought the response of the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Disaster Response Force.

The petition was filed by advocate GS Mani in the wake of two-year-old Sujith Wilson’s death after falling into an abandoned borewell in his house in Nadukattupatti, a village near Trichy, Tamil Nadu, on October 26 last year.

The toddler had perished after remaining trapped in the bore well, nearly 90-feet deep, for more than three days.

The apex court asked the central government, all states and UTs to furnish the action taken by them pursuant to the 16 guidelines issued by it in 2010 on borewell incidents and deaths.

Mani, who filed the public interest litigation, listed several news reports of borewell deaths from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat despite the directions issued by the court.

The bench listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

In its guidelines, the top court had said if a borewell is abandoned at any stage, a certificate from the department concerned is a must and such data should be maintained in the office of the district collector or block development office.

It had said fencing around a borewell should be built at the time of construction or repair.

According to reports, more than 40 children have fallen into borewells since 2009.

Between 2014 and 2018, NDRF carried out 15 successful rescue operations, bringing out children alive, while it failed in 16 cases.

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