Open Drains in Delhi: How Many More Children Must Die Before the System Wakes Up?
New Delhi. Open drains, unfenced sewer lines, and uncovered ditches are quietly turning into death traps for innocent children across Delhi. From toddlers slipping into drains while playing to minors drowning in water-logged parks, these incidents reflect a systemic failure in urban safety management. Despite multiple such fatalities, no real accountability is being enforced — not by the police, not by civic authorities.
The question remains: How many more lives must be lost before someone is held responsible?
Case 1: FIR Filed, But No Names Listed – A Family Left in the Dark
In Ramgarh village, northwest Delhi, a four-year-old child tragically fell into an open drain last Sunday and died. While police registered a case under “death by negligence,” no government department or official was named in the FIR.
The child’s father, Nizam, revealed that even four years after the incident, no structural safety measures like raising the wall of the drain have been implemented. Worse, the family was never handed a copy of the FIR. In 2023, they submitted documents for compensation, but till date, not a single rupee has been disbursed.
Case 2: A Park Becomes a Death Well — No Department Took Responsibility
On 10 August 2024, an eight-year-old boy named Tarun drowned in stagnant water near the Chhath Ghat inside a DDA Park in Rohini Sector-20. Despite a police case, no department was held accountable.
Tarun’s maternal uncle shared that he visited the local police station multiple times, but received no concrete answers. Even after the tragedy, no government official reached out to the grieving family. The negligence continues unabated.
Case 3: Contractor Named, Yet Justice Delayed in Court
On 3 March 2024, in Mohammadpur village, Alipur, a man named Ramesh Chand died after falling into a 10-foot-deep ditch dug by the Delhi Jal Board for a sewer line project. The site had no safety signs, no barriers, and no warning boards.
Following persistent pressure by the family, an FIR was finally lodged against the contractor. The case is currently pending in Rohini Court. According to the victim’s brother, three hearings have occurred, but the contractor appeared only once. Neither compensation has been granted nor has any real punishment been ensured.
Case 4: Another Child Lost to an Irrigation Department Drain
On 21 March 2025, a three-year-old boy playing with his sister in Khajuri C Block fell into an open stormwater drain belonging to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department. The drain had no fencing, no covering, and no signage.
More than three months have passed, and the drain remains open and dangerous. Police are yet to determine who is at fault. The grieving family continues to wait for answers — and for justice. The drain continues to pose a threat to other children.
What Do These Cases Reveal? A Pattern of Inaction
Across all these tragic incidents, one pattern emerges clearly: police register negligence cases, but rarely name the department or official responsible. The process of fixing accountability is either inordinately slow or completely absent. In the meantime, victims’ families lose hope, and officials walk away with impunity.
Experts Speak: Legal Loopholes, Delayed FIRs, and Bureaucratic Apathy
Senior advocate Ashkar Hussain Pasha says,
“The process of identifying and charging responsible officials is slow and deliberately evasive. Without naming departments in FIRs, the cases drag on in court, and offenders often escape punishment.”
Without departmental accountability, compensation also gets delayed or denied.
Compensation Exists, But Only on Paper
According to Rohini SDM Manish Verma, Delhi administration has a policy that allows up to ₹10 lakh in compensation if a person dies due to falling into an open drain or pit. But the process is complicated, requiring FIRs, postmortem reports, and detailed inquiry documentation.
Most families fail to receive compensation because FIRs don’t name the guilty party, making it difficult to establish government liability.
Public Safety Crisis: No Preventive Measures in Place
It’s not just about the past incidents — the danger remains. Open drains without fencing, parks without warnings, and unpaved construction sites are still common sights across Delhi. Despite media coverage and public outcry, municipal and departmental responses remain reactive, not preventive.
The result? More children at risk. More families left devastated. More deaths waiting to happen.
Conclusion: A Silent Epidemic of Negligence
Each of these stories is not just a tragic accident — they are manifestations of systemic neglect. A capital city like Delhi should not be a place where a child’s walk turns into a death sentence because a drain was left uncovered or a pit went unbarricaded.
The time for knee-jerk responses is over. What’s needed is a comprehensive safety audit of all public infrastructure, strict departmental accountability, and a publicly accessible grievance redressal system.
Until then, Delhi’s children will continue to pay the price — with their lives.
