What Amitabh, Salman And All of Us Should Know After Mahi's Death

Picture courtesy: IBN Live.com 

Actors Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan tweeted their grief while others poured out their emotion through comments posted on various media web sites reporting on the death of 5-year old Mahi. Here's what we all must know about safety and other regulations involved in borewell drilling 

By Francis Adams

According to the Central Ground Water Board of the Government of India, Haryana in which state the five-year old girl plunged to a tragic death, is among few other states that have been declared or notified as critical and over-exploited for extracting ground water.

Under such notification, construction of ground water wells are prohibited in these areas, with exception of drilling reserved for government agencies that are responsible for drinking water supply.

A Supreme Court ruling on "Measures for Prevention of fatal accidents of small children

due to their falling into abandoned bore wells and tube wells" resulting from a writ petition filed in 2009, can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Mt5TgA

After reading the detailed strictures outlined by the country's highest court, it is obvious that the contractor who had undertaken the borewell drilling work in Kho village of the Industrial Model Township, in Manesar flouted norms.

The Central Ground Water Board also has published guidelines "for evaluation of proposals/requests for ground water abstraction for drinking and domestic purposes in Notified areas and 
Industry/Infrastructure project proposals in Non-notified areas". See: http://bit.ly/LhlWMz

The Board also has a page dedicated to training its staff. A glance at the schedule revealed that the Board has planned a one-week training titled "Safety Measures in Water Well Construction" for its drilling staff, next month from 16 to 20. 

In the wake of another tragic death, again involving a child, what the Board requires to do is display these safety measures it is planning to teach its staff, prominently on its web site for the public.

There are several other issues that demand answers, such as, does ground water in Kho village and near the site measure upto 1500 TDS or Total Dissolved Solids that is the Common Tolerance level for human consumption; did the contractor possess a borewell construction licence as well as groundwater licence.

Newspaper reports have suggested that the work was being carried out illegally.

Involving more than 100 officials and various government and private agencies in rescue operations even in the future will be futile and an embarassment for the country unless the concerned authorities at the local level ensure that required safety measures are implemented as well as by using advanced equipment like the one used by Reliance Industries in the rescue operation. It was this machine that was able to locate the exact position of the trapped girl.

Until then, we can only put our heads down in mourning and in shame and of course, tweet in disgust, like Amitabh Bachchan did, his tweet saying "We successfully launch ICM's, but could not successfully save a little child that fell into a bore well !!!(sic)."

Link to few reports from the mainstream media:

www.ndtv.com - http://bit.ly/LrY53d

www.hindustantimes.com - http://bit.ly/LrYhzs

www.ibnlive.in.com - http://bit.ly/MI9d7K

www.timesofindia.com - http://bit.ly/KVaqNm