Engineer booked, civic officials remove loosely hanging gates around pond

A week after a fiveyearold tribal girl was crushed to death under a heavy iron gate while playing near a pond in Vasai the police on Thursday registered an FIR against a junior civic engineer Following reports in midday on the dangers posed by the gates which have come off the hinges around Papdi talav municipal authorities have removed a few of themLocals said one gate still dangles from a rusty hinge on the dilapidated boundary wall at the pondMany metal pieces like this were cleared out PicsHanif PatelldquoIt is good that the civic officials have finally woken up after the tragedy and removed the iron gates which had been placed against the boundary wall They have started working as it is always better to be late than neverrdquo said Sharad Dhamankar uncle of victim Bhumi MerePointing to the precariously hanging gate Dhamankar said ldquoAnother disaster is waiting to happen The civic officials should either repair this gate or remove it completely else some other tragedy can take placerdquoBhumi who lived with her mother and other relatives in a shanty in Lohia Nagar near PapadiUmela Phatak had accompanied her maternal grandmother Pushpa Narote to Papdi talav where many from her neighbourhood bathe and wash clothes as there is no water connection intheir tenementsSunita Mere Bhumirsquos motherThe girl was playing with a cousin near the pond when an iron gate placed against the boundary wall fell on her crushing her to death Her 6yearold cousin had a narrow escapeldquoWe questioned many civic officials and learnt that the contractor who was maintaining the pond had alerted junior engineer Kunal Satish Patil of Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation regarding the iron gates at Papdi talavrdquo said PSI Rahul Phad of Vasai policeldquoWe have been told by civic officials that the iron gates were kept off hinges by some miscreants who used hacksaw blades to cut them These gates were lying unattended since 2019 but despite being alerted by the contractor the junior engineer had not got them removedrdquo said Phad The first information report FIR was registered on a complaint by Bhumirsquos mother Sunita Mere who came to Vasai from a droughtprone tribal village in Palghar talukaSenior PI Kalyanrao Karpe said the engineer has been booked for causing death by negligence and a few other charges under the Indian Penal CodeThe cops will also seek Patilrsquos explanation in the matter ldquoWe are also checking the CCTV footage of the incident if anyrdquo Phad saidMy baby is gone motherldquoI left the village in Palghar taluka to live in Vasai because there was a severe water crisis and we were not getting enough facilities to live life Had I had any inkling that my lone child would die like this I would have never come to Vasairdquo sobbed the bereaved mother SunitaldquoShe Bhumi was my last hope because my husband is a drunkard and he never takes care of us I worked hard so that I could give a better lifestyle to my daughter but she is no more I canrsquot believe that she is not with us nowhelliprdquo Sunita added ldquoHad the civic officials kept up their work my baby would have been alive today The police officers told me that the accused would be arrested I thank you for consistently highlighting our plighthelliprdquo she added