In an unsettling display of government negligence, the Uttarakhand Secretariat itself has been endangering human and animal lives for days now by leaving two drains uncovered right outside its Rajpur Road gate.
It appears that instead of learning lessons from cases of injury and deaths in many parts of the country from open drains that turned death traps, in Uttarakhand officials concerned are apathetic and dismally careless.
Even though a team of policemen is on duty right where these open drains are situated and top State bureaucrats pass by every day, no one has cared to get these drains covered to prevent injury to pedestrians and stray animals.
These drains are positioned right in the middle of a much-used walkway and there is a high probability that to an approaching passer by they appear to be covered. As pointed out by former Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, Aloke Lall, “We see precious lives being lost all the time in accidents all over our country due to such callousness. That it is at the entrance to the State’s highest office is only symbolic.” On being questioned by The Pioneer, a policeman on duty at the gate while admitting that this was dangerous assured that he would bring this to the attention of his seniors and the contractor, however, six days on no action has been taken.
This correspondent spoke to Dehradun’s municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey who said that the work related to the secretariat has been given to Public Works Department so the latter should be questioned. Despite repeated attempts to speak to senior PWD officials, there was no response. “These open drains are a hazard to life and health.
I was walking on this pavement two days ago and it was just not apparent that the drains were open. As earlier these drains used to be covered I just carried on as usual and almost fell into one of these drains. A friend of mine had got a bad fracture on her shoulder some time ago by falling in an open drain while it was raining. Additionally, these open drains pose the risk of spread of pathogens as well as surface water pollution, especially rampant in the rainy season.
And what about the many voiceless stray animals living near the secretariat who can die by falling in these drains. This is so disappointing,” said a local who lives near the secretariat and wished anonymity.
These drains were uncovered earlier this month when some work was carried out at secretariat gate. But the contractor then just left the two drains open and nobody from the government has cared about the risk these pose. All that is required is to cover the two open drains with well-fitting concrete slabs. But not even such a small step has been taken as weeks have passed.
