Two days after the fire brigade and the National Disaster Response Force called off the search for the toddler, who fell into an open drain in Mumbai’s Goregaon (East), civic officials and the police continued the rescue operations on Sunday, along with the volunteers of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
On Wednesday, 18-month-old Divyansh Singh fell into an overflowing open drain near Ambedkar Chowk in Goregaon (East) around 9.45pm.
A senior official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management cell said, “A team of civic personnel from P South ward and some local NGOs are continuing the search operation. Around 40 civic personnel have searched for the boy in the drains at four spots – Pravasi Chowk, Romell society, Anmol Tower and Piramal Nagar.”
The official said the civic personnel are now conducting operations on the eastern side of the downstream nullah which enters the Marve Creek. “The nullah flows from east to west. Earlier, we looked for the boy on the western side of the nullah. Now a search operation has been initiated on the eastern side too.”
An officer from Dindoshi police station said that their team is assisting the civic officials to find the boy’s body and that their search operation will continue till the body is found. “The NDRF, the fire brigade officials and civic personnel conducted search operations inside many drains around Goregaon and Malad, but have been unable to find the body,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, Divyansh’s father, Suraj, sat on a protest outside Dindoshi police station on Sunday.
He said, “After I sat on the protest, the police promised to file a first information report by 3pm, Monday . We demand action against the civic officials concerned for keeping the drain open.”
The officer said they are checking CCTV footage of the stretch of the past one month to get leads on the person who removed the cover of the drain. He added that the cover may have been removed to drain away rainwater.
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