Criminal negligence of the Tamil Nadu government led to the tragic death of two-yearold Sujith who slipped into an abandoned borewell in Manapparai, Tiruchinapoly district, last week. After a series of similar incidents in 2014, the government framed the Tamil Nadu Municipalities (Regulation of Sinking of Wells and Safety Measures) Rules, 2015, incorporating guidelines ordered by the Supreme Court in 2010, to prevent borewell deaths.

Taking suo motu cognisance of a spate of children falling into abandoned borewells, the Supreme Court in 2010 issued guidelines to prevent such incidents. According to its order, abandoned wells should be filled to the ground level and district collectors should keep a check on abandoned borewells through their subordinates. Registers should be maintained in government offices containing the number of borewells and those that had been abandoned in every locality.

Government officials should carry out random inspection of abandoned borewells within their territorial jurisdiction. Tamil Nadu government had amended the Panchayat Rules and the Municipalities Rules incorporating the Supreme Court guidelines and adopted more stringent safety measures. Certified borewell drilling operators should obtain permit from the officials concerned before beginning the work. After completion, the licensed operators should fill up the mud pits and channels around the well and restore the ground to its original condition.

They should put a cap on the well assembly by welding steel plates or provide a strong cap to the casing pipe with bolts and nuts. There cannot be any deviation from the specifications of the well mentioned in the permit. The Madras High Court holding a special sitting asked more in sorrow than in anger, “Do we really require a dead body every time to remind us of our duties and responsibilities? It is not just Sujith’s parents but the entire nation (that) has lost a child.”

A Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee wanted the government to submit details of the number of permissions granted in the last 10 years for sinking borewells and tubewells in the State, the number of drilling agencies registered with the government, how many abandoned borewells were there across the State and the penal action taken against individuals for violating the Supreme Court guidelines on handling borewells. The government had no answer. Sujith’s is a tragic story.

After an 80-hour struggle by rescue teams from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department, National Disaster Response Force and other government agencies and prayers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy and thousands of common people, only the mortal remains of the child could be salvaged. While condoling the loss of an innocent child, there is no escaping the question who is responsible for this tragedy. The onus of closing abandoned borewells is on the local body.