Mumbai: A quick-thinking driver dived into an open borewell immediately on seeing an eight-year-old fall into it at a Lokhandwala complex, and rescued her.

The entire rescue took place in a matter of 10 minutes on February 17. While the borewell has now been covered, residents of the Andheri society have slammed the committee members for dragging their feet on the issue and ignoring the safety hazard it poses.

Committee members blame one another and say that it is partially the society members’ fault as they never want to shell out money for repair or maintenance work unless and until “it is an emergency issue.”

The 12-foot deep borewell is located inside Lokhandwala’s Apna Ghar Society Unit number 5 in Andheri West. Speaking to mid-day, 28-year-old Vipin Sooryavanshi, the driver who rescued the child, said the incident and rescue happened in a matter of 10 minutes. He said, “It was a little after 6 pm. I had just parked the car next to the society office behind the building. The watchman had climbed on top of the roof of the society office to get the kids’ ball down, but it (ball) fell on top of the thin rusted cover of the well. The girl went to pick up the ball and fell into the well.”

He added, “I instantly took off my bag and jumped in without removing my shoes. I had to then splash around with my legs to locate where she was under the water. My leg touched her and then I supported myself against the walls of the well, and with the help of a pipe inside the well, managed to pull her out.” Sooryavanshi works for a resident of the building.

When mid-day visited the spot on Thursday, the eight-year-old girl was playing in the building with other children her age, unaware of the tragedy she had been rescued from. Some of the residents and the girl’s father narrated the incident.

Residents vs committee members
A resident of the society, Paras Bakshe, pointed out to a white wooden stool kept next to the borewell—which was covered with a new metallic lid—and said, “This (stool) is what was used earlier as a warning sign that the borewell was open. This new lid was installed after the incident occurred on Wednesday evening. The earlier lid had rusted. The only light close to the well does not work, making this a very dangerous spot after dark. No one is usually behind the building, so it was lucky that the driver happened to be there.”

The 37-year-old father of the girl said, “We live here on rent. How are we supposed to raise the issue? But the permanent residents should take it up and raise objections with the management so that what happened to my daughter doesn’t happen to anyone else’s children in the future.”

“Anything that has to be done first needs to be passed through a vote by the committee members. So why couldn’t they vote to get the well covered before this mishap?” asked Paras.

Ashish Parashar, secretary of Apna Ghar Society Unit number 5, said, “The well was covered but the lid had rusted and fallen apart. We needed a replacement.”

‘A lot of infighting’

Dr Ashish Gandhi, chairman of Apna Ghar Society Unit number 5, said the previous committee members “had spent R11 lakh more than what the AGM had sanctioned (on repairs, maintenance etc.),” after which, a case was registered against them at the registrar’s office and they were removed. “In 2016 I was elected chairman and Parashar was elected secretary. There is a lot of infighting and disagreements. Any decision that we take for spending, be it repair or maintenance work, most of the members say they don’t want to shell out money. They don’t allow the committee to work and ask us to resign. I am not saying that it is entirely their fault but whenever we take up any issues, they don’t allow us to do anything unless and until it becomes an emergency,” he added.

When asked why couldn’t he have gotten the well covered, Gandhi said his job simply entailed sanctioning the approval. “This request to fix the well had been put in November…I thought it must have been done by now,” he said.

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