CHENNAI: Gayathri (8) slipped and drowned in a large pit behind her house at Krishna Nagar in Tambaram on Tuesday. Police said the pit was dug up to construct a pumping station for an underground sewage project.When Gayathri did not turn up for a few minutes, her mother Suguna, who initially thought she could have gone to her grandmother’s house nearby, went searching for her as it was time for school. When she could not find her, she became suspicious and asked some boys living nearby to check the pit, police said. The boys reportedly spotted the girl in the water and police and fire personnel were summoned to recover her body. “We can’t take any action against the private contractor as it was the girl’s mistake to have gone close to the pit,” said Jayaraj, Inspector, Tambaram. Angry neighbours said the pit was left open for more than a month as the contractor involved in the construction could not get enough earth to cover it up. “Gayathri was playing with me around 7 am. Maybe that was when she got up. She even teased me when I picked up my kids’ school bag and asked me if I had also joined school. She then left to brush her teeth,” said Ramesh, an autorickshaw driver and her neighbour.Residents in Tambaram and neighbouring Selaiyur, meanwhile, were irked as this was not the first incident in the area. A 10-year-old boy drowned in a similar pit dug up for a pumping station inside a government school at Selaiyur in August. Residents also recalled incidents where gelatin sticks were used to blast rocks to aid the digging. A boy even lost his eyesight at Ananthapuram, they said. A few months ago, an auto carrying a family fell into a large pit. “No precautionary measures are being taken for such digging work in the suburbs,” said Rajalakshmi, a Selaiyur resident.
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