Illegal borewells in Gurgaon: Death trap for children

Gurgaon: When one-and-a-half year old Sachin crawled out of his home in Gurgaon's Choma village and fell into an open pit right outside, it brought an anxious three-hour wait for his family and the neighbours before he was pulled out. Thankfully, unlike many others before him, he was pulled out safe.

But the incident has had its impact on his young mind. Sachin's mother Pooja told NDTV, "He clings on to me, he doesn't want to be left alone. I think he is still traumatised because of what happened. I'm so scared to leave him at home that I've even stopped going out to look for work."

Utility services were digging a pit to put up a cement column outside Sachin's house, but there were no signs around to warn of the danger.

In the dark, little Sachin didn't see the obvious danger ahead. He is lucky to be alive.

Barely 30 kms from Sachin's home, four-year-old Mahi was not as fortunate. Mahi fell into a narrow borewell last month and died within the first crucial few hours as oxygen failed to reach her, almost 70 feet underground.

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A nation watched in horror as the hours ticked by and she was only pulled out over three days later.

Her death evoked anger and outrage across the nation.

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And perhaps for the first time, a case of negligence was registered and three people arrested including the man who dug the illegal borewell. Even some officials were suspended.


Even the gurgaon administration came in for serious flak and finally swung into action conducting regular surveys to check on open pits and illegal borewells.

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The administration has made it mandatory to register borewell equipment and ownership data, so that defaulters can be easily identified and brought to book. Yet only 85 companies came forward till last Tuesday's deadline; which is why the Gurgaon administration has extended it further now.

Even when work on borewells and drains is underway, clear instructions and details on the job being undertaken are imperative to be displayed.

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Officials also claim they have shut at least 700 illegal borewells. But that may not be enough. Some say there are an estimated 30,000 illegal borewells still present in the area.

In fact, there's now even an Rs.500 reward for anyone with information on open ditches and pits.

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Praveen Kumar, Administrator, Haryana Urban Development Authority, told NDTV, "We are already in the critical zone with our water table. We conduct surprise checks. We try to put in place lids for pits or manholes that are not covered. But this one time, we found that a day after we had put new lids for manholes, 120 of them were stolen."

Government estimates suggest that in the next 15 years the population of Gurgaon will increase from 13 lakh to 45 lakh. In contrast, every year, the water table is falling by 1-1.5 metres.

Worse, the Central Ground Water Resources data shows that annually Haryana exploits more ground water than it puts back into the system, compounding its water problem and forcing people to look for quick-fix solutions to address their water needs.

However, these quick-fixes like illegal borewells can turn into virtual death traps for unsuspecting children in no time.