Mudassir jumped after her in the drain to rescue his sister but failed. PHOTO:FILE
A three-year-girl drowned and her four-year-old brother, who jumped into to save her, was rescued from an uncovered sewage drain in Liaquat Town on Sunday.
Haya Fatima, her brother Mudassir and some other children were playing in the street when she fell into an uncovered sewerage drain near her house.
Mudassir jumped after her in the drain to rescue her. On hearing the cries of the other children, people in the area rushed to the scene and managed to pullout Mudassir who was struggling to stay afloat.
They failed to rescue Fatima. They later called Recue-1122 who, after four hours of searching, found the girl’s body four kilometres away from the scene.
Residents of the area staged a protest demonstration against the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) authorities for not covering the drain.
They demanded that the police register a case against WASA authorities.
Shehbaz Ahmad, the girl’s father, said they had requested the government and WASA several times to cover the drain.
A WASA spokesman said the agency had constructed a three-foot-high wall around the 15-foot-wide drain. He said the WASA did not have enough funds to cover the sewage channel.
“We will put concrete slabs on it when the government releases funds for it,” he said. He said residents of the area should keep their children from playing near the drain.
Two die due to falling power lines
Two people died and two were seriously injured due to falling power lines in separate incidents on Sunday, another man died of an electric shock while repairing a UPS.
An overhanging 11-KV power cable fell on a house in Chak 203-RB. Kaneez Fatima died on the spot due to an electric shock and Parveen Bibi, Qamar Ahmad were injured. They were taken to a hospital in serious condition.
In a separate incident, Nadeem Shah died of an electric shock while repairing a faulty UPS in Duddhiwala near Hasanpura.
In another incident, five-year-old Saqlaina was playing in front of her house in Chak 240-GB, Jaranwala when an 11-KV wire fell on her. She died of an electric shock.
Following the girl’s death, her parents and other residents of the area staged a protest demonstration against the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), claiming that the authority was responsible for the girl’s death.
The protesters said that they had repeatedly asked FESCO staff to shift the wire from the area.
“However, the officials did not listen to us. Jaranwala Sub Divisional Officer Muhammad Abrar even threw us out of his office when we went to meet him,” one of the protesters, Muhammad Rafiq, said.
The villagers chanted slogans against FESCO authorities and demanded that the police arrest the SDO.
When contacted, SDO Muhammad Abrar told The Express Tribune that the wire had fallen due to a heavy windstorm on Saturday night.
“We have asked authorities to shift the wires and are still waiting for official directions,” the SDO said.
Jaranwala City SHO Muhammad Nadeem said that they had not received any complaint in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2014.
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