Odisha govt suspends assistant engineer over death of a boy in drain

Bhubaneswar, Jun 21 (PTI) The Odisha government suspended an assistant engineer of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the death of a boy in an open drain.

According to a press statement of the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department, assistant engineer Santosh Kumar Das has been found guilty of not putting up a barricade on the open drain channel where 9-year-old Abu Bakr Shah was swept away on Monday.

Das has been suspended and departmental proceedings have been initiated against him, it said.

The incident occurred at Masjid Colony in Unit-3 area of Bhubaneswar on Monday afternoon when the boy accidentally fell into the open drain while trying to collect a balloon and was swept away by stormwater. Expressing grief over the incident, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the deceased's family.

Following the incident, H&UD minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra had visited the site and sought a report from the BMC. After receiving the inquiry report, the action was taken on Thursday, the department said. PTI BBM RG