Patna: A 12-year-old boy drowned after falling into a waterlogged depression (jallah) in Ranipur under Ward 61 of Azimabad circle on Thursday, highlighting safety concerns in low-lying areas of the city amid garbage accumulation following the week-long sanitation workers’ strike.The deceased, Chintu Kumar, son of labourer Mukesh Kumar, fell into the jallah while playing, police said. Locals rescued him and rushed him to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.Mehndiganj SHO Pooja Kumari said the family neither sought a post-mortem nor lodged a police complaint.Mayor Sita Sahu expressed condolences and said the incident would be discussed at the PMC standing committee meeting. She said a Rs 9 crore drainage proposal for the ward had been sent to the govt during the previous tenure and was awaiting approval. Sahu acknowledged that garbage had accumulated during the sanitation workers’ strike and said sanitation services were being restored on a war footing. She added that awareness drives and a long-term drainage plan were also being prepared.Ward councillor Usha Devi said rainwater from seven surrounding wards drains into the area, worsening waterlogging during the monsoon. She said she would pursue compensation for the bereaved family.Azimabad circle executive officer Shreya Kashyap said the site was a natural low-lying area, not a sewage drain, where rainwater and water from pumping stations collect. “The ward has around 100-200 such depressions spread across a vast area. Many have no definite shape. Barricading all of them is not practical,” she said, adding that efforts were underway to raise the ground level in vulnerable stretches.The tragedy is the latest in a series of deaths caused by open drains, pits and waterlogged areas in Patna, underscoring persistent gaps in civic safety measures.
