Guwahati safety fails again: 3-yr-old's death in open drain exposes civic negligence

Guwahati, Sept 4: The ongoing problem of civic negligence around construction sites in Guwahati resurfaced on Wednesday when a three-year-old died after slipping into an open drain, near Vivekananda School in Kalapahar.

Locals said toddler Sunit Kumar fell into an uncovered drain around 3 pm. He was rescued only at 6 pm with help from city police and rushed to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Grief-stricken family members held both civic authorities and contractors responsible for the accident.

“Please return our son to us. We don’t want anything else. If the drain had been properly covered, our son would still be alive. No government official has visited us, and since the incident, the contractors and workers too have all disappeared,” the family alleged.

Local residents expressed similar anger and fear. “If this can happen to one child today; it could happen to many more tomorrow. Safety should come first. It’s been 12 hours since the incident, and still no engineer, contractor, or official has visited the site. Why was the work left incomplete at the first place?” said a local resident.

Members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) also criticised the lack of urgency. “The open drain from which the child fell still hasn’t been covered. There are five to six schools in this area. What will happen to students walking on this road?” an AASU member told the press.

Since the incident occurred at the site of the under-construction Cycle Factory flyover, a project under the Public Works Department (PWD), The Assam Tribune reached out to the department for their response.

Initially, several officials either avoided commenting or shifted responsibility to others. After repeated follow-ups, one PWD official attributed the accident to the “night-time removal of drain cover planks by someone.”

“The road and drain footpath construction is ongoing alongside the flyover work. About 1 km of the footpath has already been completed. The remaining open drains are usually covered with wooden planks, but someone may have removed one. The child was walking backward toward the open drain when he fell. What happened was unfortunate,” the official said.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma echoed the PWD’s concerns, noting that thieves have been stealing pipes, drain covers, and other construction materials from these sites at night, calling it a “social issue.”

“I have directed the Chief Secretary to monitor open drains through satellite imagery, and we will address them promptly. Pipes laid on footpaths are being stolen at night, and these social issues need to be resolved collectively,” Sarma told the press on the sidelines of an event in Sonitpur on Thursday.

Sunit Kumar’s death is not an isolated case at construction sites in the city. In recent months, at least two people have died and five others injured at flyover construction sites, including the Maharaj Prithu Flyover and Cycle Factory projects. The most recent incident occurred on August 27, when a construction worker was electrocuted atop a pillar at Silpukhuri.

These recurring tragedies highlight a consistent failure to enforce safety at construction sites, endangering workers and ordinary residents alike. The death of little Sunit Kumar is more than an accident—it is a grim reminder that civic apathy is claiming lives in Guwahati.

By Gunjan Sarma