Gurgaon: A four-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy died after a newly constructed cement water tank collapsed in a slum cluster in Sector 83 on Friday night. Police have registered an FIR for negligence against the contractor at Kherki Daula police station. The girl’s father alleged that the tank was built with substandard materials and filled with water before construction was complete.A senior police officer said they did not receive any information about the second child. “The complainant’s family had also alleged that another child had suffered injuries and we have also learnt that the child had died. However, the family could not be contacted as of now. It is a possibility that they might have left for their hometown. Teams are working to find the contractor, who is at large, and also searching for the second family,” the officer added.According to the complaint filed by Sharif Ali (45), 60-70 jhuggis are located at the site, which is looked after by a contractor, Ajay, and his family, who are from Nadia in West Bengal.The complaint said the cemented tank measuring around 10 feet by 5 feet and about 5 feet in height was constructed at the site three to four days before the incident. On Friday, the contractor allegedly filled it with water to check the structure and told residents they could use it. A plastic tank had earlier served the residents.Sharif, a mason, told TOI he was working in Sikanderpur when his wife Rubina, who works as housekeeping staff at a nearby society, called him after the tank collapsed. “My wife had taken Sumaiya to the water tank to bathe her. Within minutes, the tank gave way, trapping my wife and our youngest daughter. Another woman and her one-year-old son were also trapped,” he said.Locals pulled the victims out from under the debris. Sharif said his wife took Sumaiya to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her dead. The women sustained injuries too but are stable.Police said they received information about the incident around 10pm and reached the slum cluster. By then, Sumaiya’s family had placed her body in an ambulance and were preparing to take her to their native village in West Bengal. “The family had initially begun taking the child’s body to their native village, but we intercepted the ambulance and sent her to Civil Hospital, Sector 10, for examination. Her body was subsequently kept at the district mortuary for postmortem,” a police officer said.An FIR was subsequently registered under Section 106 of BNS for causing death by negligence. Sumaiya’s postmortem was conducted at the district mortuary and her body was handed over to the family for the last rites.“Further investigation is under way. We are verifying the allegations regarding the construction of the tank and the circumstances leading to its collapse,” the officer said.
