A BABY girl, just a few months old, died after reportedly falling from a bed into stagnant water inside her waterlogged home at Birati in North Dumdum, officials said on Saturday.
According to local residents, the infant was alone on the bed while her mother stepped out of their home in Devinagar area under the North Dum Dum municipality’s ward No. 13.
When the mother returned, she found the child lying unresponsive in the water that had accumulated inside the house due to prolonged waterlogging. The baby is believed to have fallen from the bed while playing, police said. The child was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.
The local councillor blamed the relentless rainfall over the past few days for the waterlogging, which has left several homes in the neighbourhood flooded. An investigation is underway, though police suspect it to be an accident.
Throughout the state, there has been incessant rainfall resulting in rivers and canals overflowing and streets being waterlogged for days.
According to local residents, the child was sleeping in her bed while her mother, Pooja Ghorui, was busy preparing their lunch. Seeing her child sleeping, the mother left her unattended for some work but upon returning Pooja saw that her child had fallen into the stagnant water and had lost consciousness.
She called her brother-in-law and husband Papon Ghorui, a civic volunteer by profession. They took the child to a local hospital where hospital sources said the child’s condition was deteriorating, immediately the child was taken to Dr BC Roy hospital where doctors declared the child’s condition brought dead.
Prashant Das, Trinamool councilor of Ward No. 13 of North Dumdum Municipality, said, “It was a tragic incident. I came as soon as I heard about it. The drainage system is not bad but it has been raining heavily for days that is why the water has accumulated. We are there beside the family at this time.”
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The councilor said that they had plans of cleaning the canal but due to the heavy rainfall that had been put on hold for the time being. But local residents and neighbours of the family say that this happens almost each time it rains.
Binoy Das, a local resident, said, “This is routine… whenever it rains there is waterlogging and the water stays stagnant for weeks, snakes and other insects are also spotted. Only during election time do the authorities or leadership bother to visit here…”
The local police have sent the body of the child for postmortem at NRS hospital.
A senior police officer said, “A case has been registered.”
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Another local resident said, “When we saw the father and uncle of the child running with the child in their arms, we quickly took them to the hospital on our motorcycle. But now we hear that she is no longer alive. This is completely the fault of the administration.”
BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar told The Indian Express, “This government is busy trying to hide their faults. The TMC government is in its third term and yet there is no budget allotted for infrastructure. Families are losing their children because of this incompetent government.”
— WITH PTI
