New Delhi: A six-year-old boy died by allegedly drowning in the swimming pool in North West Delhi’s Pitampura on Sunday. The Aam Aadmi Party has blamed the Delhi Municipal Corporation Community Centre for its negligence. The Leader of Opposition, Ankush Narang, in MCD stated the incident as the case of “gross negligence and administrative failure.” Delhi police had registered a case of negligence against the MCD.
The boy named Taksh Rathi, had gone for swimming with two teenage boys in his neighborhood on Friday morning. According to Taksh’s father Manjeet Kumar, his son was declared “dead on arrival” by the hospital authorities upon reaching the hospital.
“Minor could have been saved”
Taksh, a trained swimmer, had attended summer camp at the same pool last year. According to Taksh’s grandfather Lakshman Bhatt, his grandson went for swimming at the Community Center’s pool at around 9:30 in the morning. The boys who accompanied Taksh assured his mother that they will take good care of him. “The boys assured his mother that they will look after him and only allow him to enter the pool in the presence of lifeguards. At the spot, when the three boys entered the pool, the elder ones swam ahead. When they looked back, they found Taksh missing and raised an alarm. The lifeguards rescued Taksh from the water. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Our family was informed about the drowning around 10:30 am,” Bhatt told the Hindustan Times.
The hospital authorities claimed that Taksh could have been saved if the lifeguards rescued him within five seconds. Although the pool management claims that the boy was rescued within five seconds of drowning, the hospital authorities say that the boy was under water for almost 2 to 3 minutes.
Investigations underway
Officials say that the swimming pool was leased by Arpana Tiwari, wife of Jagjeet Kadyan, a resident of Shiwani Kunj, Madhupur, from the MCD. The police found out that there were no CCTV cameras and other safety measures deployed at the swimming pool.
A case has been registered under the 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which primarily deals with death caused by negligence.
AAP blames MCD
The Leader of Opposition in MCD said that there were no lifeguards present at the time of the drowning. Also, the facility lacked both CCTV surveillance and safety equipment. “By the time a lifeguard was called and the child was pulled out, it was too late,” he claimed.
Narang further slammed the silence of Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh and Delhi CM Rekha Gupta as “shameful”.
