Body of man who fell into open drain after stepping on broken slab found

Time of India

a day ago

Lucknow: The body of 43-year-old man, Suresh Lodhi, who fell into an overflowing drain after stepping on broken slab on Saturday morning, was recovered after 28 hours on Sunday near the IIM Road embankment, about 1 km from the accident site in Thakurganj's Radha Gram locality.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 5 lakh compensation from the CM fund and directed action against negligent officials. An additional Rs 4 lakh was provided from the disaster management fund, taking the total aid to Rs 9 lakh. Municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar also initiated action against the errant officials.
According to family members, Suresh was swept away by the strong current of the drain which was overflowing after heavy rain, around 7am on Saturday.
The family alleged that despite complaints, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) started the rescue operation after three hours.
Later, teams from SDRF and Suez India launched a rescue mission with over 100 personnel, but it was a local resident, Buddha, who eventually found the body, residents claimed.
On the directives of the CM, municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar suspended junior engineer Raman Kumar for failing to inspect the area despite complaints received through IGRS and the control room.
Assistant engineer Alok Kumar was also issued a show-cause notice. Cleaning contractor Ankit Kumar has been blacklisted and penalised. An FIR was also lodged against the vendor and the local BJP corporator.
The commissioner said the work of drain cleaning in the area was of poor quality. Residents alleged that the drain slab was broken for months, and no one paid attention despite repeated complaints by residents and the victim's family.
"No one helped us. We searched and found the body on our own. Who will look after my children now?" Suresh's wife, Renu, said.
She demanded Rs 50 lakh as compensation which was supported by relatives and neighbours. Locals staged protest and shouted slogans against the municipal corporation and officials.
Renu alleged that they had filed complaints twice about the broken drain slab, but no action was taken. "We had to get the drain outside our house repaired on our own," she said.
LMC launches drive to cover open manholes, drains
Lucknow: A day after a man died by falling into a drain in Thakurganj, LMC has launched a drive to cover all open drains and manholes. Municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar and senior officials inspected the site and ordered 24x7 monitoring through a control room. Mayor Sushma Kharkwal said negligence would not be tolerated and urged people to report open drains on toll-free number 1533.