Borehole Mishap

"Baby dies in sewer system"

"Boy fell down the 30-foot-deep hole"

"Two year old falls in 45-foot bore well".

These are the news that make the headlines of Newspapers and TV news more frequently these days. We hear to this heart-breaking news not only in developing countries like India but also in well developed countries like USA and England. If just listening to this news, breaks the hearts of people around the world, you just can't imagine how the affected people would suffer.

Man is prone to make mistakes but making the same mistake over and over again is unbearable. This is a problem that must be analyzed and solved at the earliest. Finding answers to the following questions would be the first step in finding a solution to this problem.

• Why is this happening?
• Who is responsible?
• What are the steps to be taken to prevent these mishaps?

Why is this happening?

There are many reasons for this mishap but we can come up with a few main reasons that should be taken care of at the earliest.

• Government employees or contractors leaving the access pit or a drainage hole uncovered even after the work is complete,
• Well-drilling companies or construction companies drilling boreholes 30 to 40 feet deep and failing to implement safety measures during or after drilling holes,
• Government authorities being so lethargic and failing to implement precautionary measures,
• And, lawmakers failing to create strict laws against people responsible for the mishap.

Who is responsible?

Let us put aside the fact that everything good or bad happens as a result of one's karma. We cannot just leave the problem as is because we are not saints. From an ordinary human's perception we can say that the cause of this mishap is someone's careless attitude. We cannot blame the children because they are new to this beautiful, yet dangerous world. The first set of people to be blamed is their parents who are given the responsibility of keeping their child safe by God. As far as I am concerned, I would say that an elder's eye should always be kept on the child. Secondly, I would blame the workers and authorities for leaving the hole uncovered after completing their work for the day. Thirdly, I would blame the government for not taking serious actions or necessary steps to prevent these accidents. Even though I mentioned the government third in the list, I feel that the government should play a pivotal role in saving people’s lives in public places.

What are the steps to be taken to prevent these accidents?

A child's mother alone cannot hold responsible because looking after a child for 24 hours a day by a single person is impossible. The members of the family should take turns in taking care of the child. Even when you get tired, you should not take your eyes off the child unless you hand over your responsibility to another elder person in your family.

The employees involved in drilling the hole should make sure that the hole is not left open when they leave the place for the day. When an employee does this perfectly, nobody will go to the employee and say "You saved a child’s life because you covered the hole before you left for the day". But still, the employees can pat themselves and say "I saved a child’s life by taking proper precautionary measures."

Finally, the government should act proactively by taking necessary steps to avoid the mishap happening once again. The law makers should frame and implement strict laws so that the drilling companies and responsible employees will be afraid to repeat the mistake. I don't know if there is a separate department to monitor the problems that the public face in their day-to-day activities. If not, I think we badly need a department to regularly monitor problems like damaged roads, uncovered holes, poor lighting or absence of road lights and so on.

What do you think???