Ahmedabad: Eleven days after nine-year-old visually impaired Manisha Salat fell into an open sewer on Pirana-Piplaj Road, authorities have yet to recover her body. The search has yielded only small fragments believed to be human tissue, while officials say the sewer’s depth, accumulated sludge, and suspected hazardous chemicals have made the operation difficult and dangerous.The case has raised questions about infrastructural perils, the civic body’s preparedness for rescue operations, and the suspected discharge of industrial effluents into the drainage network.A senior fire brigade officer said rescue operations began soon after the girl fell into the sewer, but teams had found no trace of the girl’s body as of Tuesday. “We have found very small broken pieces of intestine and sent them for forensic analysis,” the officer said.Another officer involved in the operation said the remains appeared to have been severely decomposed. Teams also found hair and torn pieces of clothing, but could not establish whether they belonged to Manisha. The officer said the absence of bones had made the case particularly difficult to understand.“Usually, a body swells when it remains in water. In this case, not even bones have been found,” the officer said, adding that corrosive chemicals suspected to have entered the sewer could have damaged the remains. The cause and extent of any chemical exposure, however, remain to be established.Fire department personnel have also expressed concern about the risks involved in continuing the search without equipment suited to a sewer filled with sludge, mud, and potentially hazardous substances. The inaccessible nature of the drainage line has restricted efforts to trace the child.Additional commissioner of police, Sector 2, Jaypal Singh Rathore, said police were treating the case as an accidental death but had not recovered the body.“The girl fell to a depth of 30-35 feet, which made the search difficult,” Rathore said. “The body was not found even at the outlet. AMC and fire brigade teams are stationed there. We have found only small body parts.”Rathore added that searching the sewer line from within was not feasible and police had also attempted to inspect the area using a drone. Civic and fire brigade teams continue to examine the drainage network.Local residents have alleged that dumper trucks without number plates regularly discharge chemical substances into sewer and stormwater lines around Ganeshnagar, Pirana, Piplaj, and Narol. They claim that one or two such trucks are seen in the area every week, but allege that no effective action has been taken.The tragedy occurred around 3.30pm on Oct 10, when Manisha was walking with her family after they alighted from an autorickshaw. According to passersby, the child’s hand was released by her mother to pay the autorickshaw fare; soon thereafter, the girl fell into the open sewer behind her.The family and local residents raised an alarm, following which police and the fire brigade were alerted. The mother reportedly fainted in distress as people tried to locate the child.Fire brigade personnel began the search at around 4pm and inspected the drainage line for nearly 1km, without success. The operation was further complicated by uncertainty over the sewer’s downstream connection.An AMC official attributed the open sewer to construction work on an elevated corridor on the Sarkhej-Narol Highway. The official said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), while undertaking such projects, sometimes breaks sewer lids or changes their levels without informing the civic body.
