Till that time, it remains completely submerged.” Meanwhile, mayor Asha Sharma said she had directed officials to set up automatic drainage systems in all such underpasses. GMC had recently constructed a drain abutting the underpass to channelise accumulated rainwater, but it takes two to three hours for water to pass through the drain. He added, “There is an inherent engineering design fault behind the problem. The underpass was constructed by the railways many years ago, and since it is in a low-lying area, rainwater from higher areas accumulates there,” Tawar said. “We visited the spot after the incident, and I was told that the flooding of Gaushala underpass is a very old and recurrent problem. Ghaziabad municipal commissioner Mahender Singh Tawar blamed flaws in the engineering design of the Gaushala underpass for the flooding. We have sent his photos to different police stations of the state and Delhi-NCR,” the SHO added. “We are trying to trace his family members. Arjun had told them his family died in an accident in Bihar when he was a child, after which he came to Ghaziabad,” said Devendra Bisht, SHO of Vijay Nagar police station. “Locals and his friend Guddu said Arjun had been living in Ghaziabad with the ragpickers since he was eight years old and had no family here. Police said they are trying to trace his family to inform them about the incident.
Divers later fished out his body from the water,” the SP said. Though his friend raised the alarm, he couldn’t be rescued in time. Arjun jumped into the water and managed to save the child, but himself drowned. “The underpass suddenly got filled with a lot of water due to heavy rain, and the boy couldn’t swim out. Arjun was passing by with his friend Guddu when he heard a 12-year-old boy shouting for help. SP (city) Abhishek Verma told TOI that the incident took place around 1pm on Friday, when a few children were swimming in the water collected in the underpass. According to police, Arjun alias Haddi lived with a group of ragpickers near the Ghaziabad railway station.
The low-lying underpass is inundated every monsoon, and children can often be seen swimming there. A couple inside the car had to be rescued by the local police.GHAZIABAD: An 18-year-old ragpicker drowned while saving a child in the flooded Gaushala underpass during Friday’s rains in the city. On August 19, a car was stuck in underpass due to overflowing of water at the underpass. “ A few days ago, I had visited this underpass and got water cleared”, he added. “I will order an enquiry into today’s incident and even write to senior railway authorities in this connection”, said deputy commissioner, Faridabad Atul Kumar. “ We urge the authorities to address this issue of waterlogging at the earliest.” Anish Suri, a resident of the area, said most have to cross the railway track every day. Green Colony residents, however, said flooding of the underpass is a perennial problem. The cause of the accident was flooding in the underpass, which forced her to use the railway track.” She was later referred to AIIMS.ĭevi’s son, Ankit Arora, said, “ We are in a shock. A passerby, who knew the woman, informed her family following which she was rushed to a private hospital in Faridabad. Om Prakash, station house officer of the Goverment Railway Police, said preliminary investigation has revealed that Devi climbed on to the space between two bogies of a stationed train but the train reportedly moved, thereby crushing her leg. The woman has been admitted to the AIIMS trauma centre, police said. Devi, a resident of B block in Greenfield colony, was walking towards Mathura Road to take an autorickshaw to her workplace. Family members said the woman was forced to use the railway track instead of an underpass for crossing the stretch as the underpass was submerged in water. Krishna Devi, 52, was on her way to a Central Delhi hospital - where she works as a nurse - on Wednesday when her leg was crushed under a train in Faridabad.