Boy who fell into open drain in Mumbai remains missing

A massive search operation is still underway to rescue the toddler who had slipped into an open drain on Wednesday.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come under sharp criticism for keeping the drain open.

The boy, Divyanshu Singh (2), had fallen into the drain of a lane in Ambedkar Chowk area on the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, on Wednesday night around 10.30 pm.

The gutter is nearly 20 ft away from the house of the victim. The BMC and Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) continued with the operation on Friday. NDRF teams too have joined in.

Meanwhile, the boy's father Surajbhan Singh said that the administration is not cooperating with them. "The civic administration and police is pressurising us," he told reporters.

The boy's family and locals alleged that the BMC never covered the gutter. The civic body said that unidentified persons removed the cover sometime back and efforts are on to track them with CCTV footage.

The gutter where the boy fell is nearly one to two feet deep and joins the main drainage line nearly 30 feet away. The boy is feared to have washed away due to heavy rains.

So far, over, 10 km of drainage line has been checked through the manholes. The Dindoshi police station is looking after the investigations.

Meanwhile, Mumbai mayor Prof Vishwanath Mahadeshwar appealed to the citizens not to open the covers of manholes or drainages in any circumstances and added that said people should co-operate during such incidents.