The boy was playing cricket with his friends when he fell into the pit, which was dug by the Greater Noida Authority for boring work and was filled with rainwater.

Noida:

A 6-year-old boy drowned in a 15-foot-deep pit at a residential complex in Greater Noida on Saturday, with residents alleging that there were no barricades or warning signs.

The boy, Avyaan Surya, was playing cricket with his friends when he fell into the pit at the Kaladham Society, a colony for artists. The pit was dug by the Greater Noida Authority for boring work and was filled with water.

Surya, the son of Siwan Yadav, an art teacher at a government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya, was rescued by residents and rushed to a hospital but was declared dead.

An eyewitness, Pranjal Rajput, told NDTV that the incident took place around 7 pm.

“A boy came running to me when I was washing my car, screaming that a child had fallen inside the pit,” Rajput said, adding that he was puzzled how someone could drown in the society.

He then rushed to the site and saw a security guard was there.

The guard then removed his clothes and jumped into the pit, Rajput said.

“I called other residents, and about three to four people then jumped into the pit,” he said.

He said they kept trying to locate the child for about five minutes before his body touched one of the rescuers.

“He pulled him out of the water using his leg, and I helped take him out of the pit,” he said.

“We took him out of the pit and tried our best to revive him. We took him to the hospital where doctors declared him dead,” Rajput said.

He said they had no idea that there was a deep pit in the complex.

“It is a matter of grave negligence,” he alleged.

“No Child Could’ve Swum Out”

Siwan Yadav said he and his wife, a nurse in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), went outside their home when they heard noises.

“When we went outside, people told us that a boy had fallen into the pit,” he told NDTV while waiting for his son’s body outside the mortuary.

“I noticed that one of my society friends had jumped into the pit to rescue the boy,” he said, adding that “no child could’ve swam out of that”.

“It’s unfair that his life was lost because of the negligence of the authorities,” he said and broke down.

“He hadn’t seen the world. He was fond of playing outside like all the other children,” he said.

“Whenever I close my eyes, his face comes in front of me. We’re inconsolable at this point,” Yadav added.

“Pit Dug Without Our Knowledge”

AK Singh, the General Manager of the Greater Noida Authority, said the pit was being dug “without the knowledge” of senior officials.

The residents had approached us over a water supply issue, following which the authority approved the installation of a tube well, he said.

“It was to be installed at a nearby location. We have no idea why it was shifted here,” he told NDTV.

He said the work started about two days ago, but the contractor didn’t inform them.

“The contractor should have placed proper barricades, but he just used two bamboo barricades that were not sufficient,” Singh said.

It was “grave negligence” of the contractor, he said, terming it a “very tragic incident”.

The contractor of a firm, Manoj Jain, has been arrested, and a case has been registered against the Greater Noida Authority’s supervisor, Johnny, and the technical supervisor, Akash Rajput.

“Deeply Unfortunate”

Devendra Shukla, the Kaladham Society’s general secretary, said that they were in talks with the authorities for a requirement of a borewell, as there is no water pressure in the houses.

“But the last conversation that happened with us was that it would be made in the park area rather than the parking area. This boring work started the day before yesterday,” he told NDTV.

“Barricading should have been placed before digging the pit,” he added, saying the incident is “deeply unfortunate”.