Thiruchirapalli
Three weeks after the attention of the whole State was focused on it during the operation to rescue Sujith Wilson, the two-year-old who fell into an abandoned borewell, the Nadukattupatti village in Tiruchy district now wears a deserted look. The boy’s family is slowly returning to the routine, levelling the land, which was dug up by various teams in the course of the rescue operation, for cultivation.
On October 25, Sujith slipped and fell into a 600-feet borewell and was stuck at 88 feet. The borewell in the 1.5-acre ancestral land was used for cultivation by the boy’s father, Britto Arockiaraj Wilson, before abandoning it due to lack of water.
Britto had cultivated maize on the land, which was dug up using heavy duty machines in order to rescue the boy. After the operation failed, the government levelled the land. “Until last week, we were sitting idle with the memories of our little son haunting us. But life has to move on and I started to look for a daily work which I found in Manapparai. I have started to go to work from Saturday,” Britto told DT Next. His neighbours said Britto is a good mason and was earlier working with a construction firm in Madurai. Britto said he levelled the land a couple of weeks ago and the family has planned to take up cultivation from next week.“We have tilled the ground to keep it ready for sowing the maize again, which requires less water for cultivation,” Britto added. Meanwhile, Sujith’s mother Kala Mary, who has not yet recovered from the grief, has gone to her parents’ house at Kalpalanthanpatti near Manapparai along with her elder son.
Campaign against abandoned borewells yet to reach Nadukattupatti:
The people here claim that even though the officials created awareness on the dangers posed by abandoned borewells, it was short-lived, with the officials failing to monitor and follow-up the closing of borewells. “The residents here volunteered to cap the abandoned borewells soon after the tragedy. Around 50 people closed the unused borewells in their lands. But as the initial enthusiasm waned, people stopped closing them after a few days,” claimed T Sebastian,a local resident.
Even after the tragedy, an abandoned borewell situated close to Sujith’s house was just wrapped with plastic bags. “The officials have not listed the abandoned borewells in the locality. Since the awareness had not reached the people properly, we find many such borewells around the village. It is now left to the youth here, who identify and close them after informing the land owners,” he added.
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