A three-year-old girl, Chetna, has been trapped in a 700-foot borewell in Rajasthan’s Kotputli-Behror district for over 20 hours, with rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the state-level SDRF working tirelessly to save her. The young girl fell into the borewell while playing on her father’s farm.
Chetna is stuck at a depth of nearly 150 feet, and her movements are being monitored via a camera. An oxygen pipe has been lowered into the borewell to ensure she receives air.
Initial rescue efforts, which involved digging, were hampered due to the compacted soil around the borewell caused by moisture. The current plan involves using a hook attached to a rod to pull her out, and officials are hopeful that she will be rescued soon.
This incident follows a similar tragedy just two weeks earlier, when a five-year-old boy named Aryna fell into a borewell in Rajasthan’s Dausa district. Despite a 56-hour-long rescue operation, the boy was declared dead in the hospital after being pulled from a 150-foot-deep borewell.
In light of these incidents, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Rajasthan government and police, raising concerns about the failure to follow Supreme Court and Centre guidelines designed to prevent such accidents. The NHRC highlighted the negligence involved, calling it a violation of the right to life, and has demanded a detailed report within two weeks on the matter. The report should address the status of the FIR, actions taken against responsible public authorities, and any compensation provided to the victims’ families.
