5 choke to death while cleaning well

N Kalia

Nidana (Jind), May 16

Five persons died while cleaning an abandoned well at Nidana village of Jind district today. Peeved over acute water shortage and “no help” from any quarter, the victims, all belonging to the Dalit community, decided to clean and extract water from the decades-old well that was lying unused for the past three years.

Unaware of noxious gases emanating from the well, 18-year-old Mohan, youngest of the five, stepped into the well and fell unconscious within seconds. Thereafter, Sanjay Kumar, 27, Sukhchain, 23, Dinesh Kumar, 29, and Mahipal, 40, jumped in too but fell unconscious and apparently drowned in the low level of water.

Karampal, an eyewitness, said: “I too entered the well to save my friends but it was so suffocating inside that I asked villagers to pull me out immediately. I was unable to breathe.”

Kul Kumar, another eyewitness, said: “We wanted to remove filth and bushes from the well hoping it would solve our problems. But the gases were so strong that all five men lost senses within 10 seconds.”

Unable to fish out bodies of the deceased, villagers informed the administration, blaming it for poor response.

During the five-hour operation, a diver also felt suffocated. He was pulled out and given oxygen by doctors on the site.

The administration has deployed two JCB machines and combined suction and jetting sewer cleaning machines on the site to reduce the impact of poisonous gases.

Jind Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh said: “It is an unfortunate incident. The state government has announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for families of all five victims. We have asked village panchayats to identify all abandoned wells in the district so that we can bury them permanently.”

Julana MLA Parminder Singh Dhul said: “I have raised the issue of water shortage in Nidana and 62 other villages of my constituency with the state and the central governments but received no response to date.” The victims were cremated in the evening.