Toddler drowns in water tank

 A two-and-a-half-year-old girl drowned in a four-foot deep tank on the Government Ayurvedic College campus near Anand Rao Circle here Tuesday evening.

The tank was dug by the Horticultural department to store water for watering plants in the garden. There were no safety measures in place, said a labourer working on the campus.

The girl was identified as Almas, daughter of construction worker Daulat, from Dyamanala village in Surpur taluk, Yadgir district. Daulat and his wife Atiya Begum also have an 11-month-old son, Altaf.

The couple were among 30 construction labourers from Dyamanala who were engaged in renovation of the college building. Swamy, the mason from the same village had brought them to the City a month ago.
All the families were residing in makeshift sheds on the campus.

Daulat said that on Tuesday evening, as they were working on the first floor, children from their families were playing in front of the sheds.

“We noticed that Almas was missing from the group. We started searching for the girl and, we thought that somebody had taken her away.

After a 30-minute search, we found that she had drowned in the water tank.”  Although the girl was rushed to a nearby private hospital, she was declared brought dead.

Durgappa, another labourer working on the college
premises, said that the tank was about 150 metres away from the sheds and they were surprised as to how the baby went so far.

The Upparpet police, who have registered a case, said autopsy will be performed at
the Victoria Hospital on Wednesday.