An iron gate, removed from its hinges near a wall close to a pond in Vasai and left leaning against the dilapidated boundary wall, fell on a five-year-old tribal girl, crushing her to death recently. The six-year-old cousin of the deceased who was playing with her at the time had a narrow escape.

The pond, maintained by the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation, sees a crowd of locals who use the pond to wash clothes, and bathe. Children play near the pond, often around the gates which had been removed due to its dilapidated condition or for some work around the site. Though they were removed from the hinges, they had not been stored in a secure place or carted off by the contractor, but left in that space.