New Delhi: On Aug 22, 15-year-old Mithun Kumar slipped and fell into an open drain while trying to retrieve a kite near his house in south Delhi’s Jasola. Authorities launched a dramatic yet frustrating search, during which a video of his father wading into the drain and clawing through accumulated garbage in a desperate bid to find his son gained traction on social media. Three days later, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) managed to fish out the teenager’s body from a stretch of Agra Canal, 500 metres from the spot where he had presumably drowned.More than a month later, civic apathy seems to be the norm in the area, with the drain in which Mithun fell still lacking a cover or an embankment.To protect their children, locals have erected termite-eaten planks of wood to cordon off a narrow alley they use from the gushing sewage in the drain. But the planks are neither high nor strong enough to catch anyone who slips on the sloping banks of the drain. Parents have warned their kids to never go near the water – except to use shared toilets, built by the drain.The colony is flanked by two drains, choked with polythene bags and plastic waste. A stench of animal carcasses is overpowering. Waste from houses, butcher shops and run-off from the street ends up in the drains, which are reportedly cleaned twice a year.“My children and I will move out of this place,” said Mithun’s aunt, Kusuma Devi. “The authorities promised to construct a wall flanking the drain after the incident. All they did was put a bamboo fence on the wrong drain.”She was referring to a lattice fence erected on the sides of a smaller drain, trickling with ankle-deep water. “Even a mouse will swim out of this. We need a boundary wall around the drain in which Mithun fell,” said a resident.After Mithun’s death, his parents quit their jobs — Awadhesh Kumar was a sanitation worker with a private firm in Batla House while his wife was a domestic help — as they were scared to leave their three kids alone at home. Awadhesh alleged he hasn’t received the post-mortem report or Rs 5 lakh promised by Delhi govt as compensation for their loss.A police officer said the report is yet to be finished and would be handed over to the family as soon as it is ready. “The process of paying the compensation is complete and a cheque is likely to be given to the kin of the victim next week,” said a govt official.The response of MCD was awaited at the time of going to press.Inside Mithun’s house, his mother, Anitha Devi, showed TOI a photo of her son on a school picnic to India Gate. A shyly smiling Mithun crouches on the ground alongside his friends. “My heart shatters into a thousand pieces every time I see this photo.” Mithun could’ve been alive if the authorities hadn’t stretched the rescue operation over three days, the mother rued.Anitha then brought out a folder full of sketches by her son. The last one was drawn two days before he drowned, showing two boys saluting the Indian flag. His brother, Dharmender Kumar, said, “Mithun had drawn this for Independence Day. He drowned in the drain before he could fill it with colour.”
