Borewells or death traps: More than 33 children died in India since 2009

Hyderabad: More than 40 children have fallen into the borewells in India since 2009 and over 70 percent of rescue operations have failed.

India has approximately 27 million borewells, which is the biggest source of groundwater in the world.

Reports say that since 2009, more than 40 children fell into the bore well. On an average 70% of the conventional child rescue operation fails.

India recently has witnessed some of the most tragic incidents. According to the figures available, from 2006 till early 2019, more than 33 people have died after slipping into the borewells and 92 percent of those victims were below 10 years.

In all these cases, children were playing around the bore wells unaware of the fact that they could be a death trap.

NDRF being a specialized force in disaster response has saved precious lives across the country. To handle such incidents with more expertise, the agency came up with Standard Operating Procedure in May 2019.

NDRF observed that due to water scarcity, low rainfall, drought, and depletion of underground water, a large number of borewells are dug across the country.

When the water gets dried hp, the motor along with the casing pipes are removed and the outer surface of the bore well is not properly covered or sealed.

In rural regions of the States, borewells are widely used due to lack of water supply or unavailability of ponds, rivers, etc. Almost all government programmes seek to supply water through tube wells. After the water dries up, most of these tube wells are abandoned and are usually left uncapped and open.

A survey by the Ministry of Water Resources in 2008 found that 85 percent of rural needs, 50 percent of urban drinking and industrial needs and 55 percent of irrigation needs are met through bore wells.

According to NDRF, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Haryana witnessed maximum borewell incidents in the country with 17.6 percent each. They were followed by Rajasthan 11.8 percent, Karnataka 8.8 percent. Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra accounted for 5.9 percent. Assam with 2.9 percent was at the bottom of the table.