A two-year-old boy died near his house in Hyderabad's Rein Bazaar area on Saturday after he fell into a deep open drain.
Zaki Abbas had gone missing during the day, and after a frantic search by his parents, his body was found floating in the drain.
The incident occurred at Moula Ka Chilla.
According to a report in the Deccan Chronicle, the drain had been left open for more than a year, even as another drain was dug up a month ago, in the same area, 20 metres away.
(Garbage floats in an area of the open drain)
The report also adds that several complaints by locals, had no effect on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
"Last year, during the monsoon, the entire area was flooded. We were locked inside our rooms while the dirt entered our homes. We had approached the GHMC, urging it to close the drains, but they just raised the side wall of one drain and left it open. We repeatedly approached them for action as the open drains resulted in mosquito-breeding and was affecting the health of the people," Md Mujtaba, a resident told DC.
When the Times of India contacted GHMC zonal commissioner (south) Srinivas Reddy, he said, "There was no retaining wall for the drain. After the rains last year, we had built a compound wall at the mouth of the nala, but not around it. Since the houses are located very close to each other, it has not been possible for us to build a wall on the banks of the nala.“