Bhubaneswar Engineer Suspended Over Boy's Tragic Drain Death

The Odisha government suspended an assistant engineer from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation after a boy fell and died in an open drain. Santosh Kumar Das, the assistant engineer, was found guilty of not securing the area. The boy, 9-year-old Abu Bakr Shah, was swept away by stormwater while trying to retrieve a balloon.

The Odisha government has suspended an assistant engineer of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation following the tragic death of a young boy in an open drain.

An official statement from the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department confirmed that engineer Santosh Kumar Das was found negligent for not erecting a barricade around the open drain channel, leading to the tragic incident.

On Monday, 9-year-old Abu Bakr Shah was swept away by stormwater after accidentally falling into the drain while trying to collect a balloon in the Masjid Colony area of Bhubaneswar. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the bereaved family. The H&UD minister, Krushna Chandra Mohapatra, visited the site and demanded a report, which led to swift action being taken against Das.