Search still continues for 6 yr old

Visakhapatnam: The search operations for the missing six-year-old girl, Athidhi, who fell into an open drain in the city, remained futile till Friday night.

The city woke up to the shock news on Friday morning and locals blamed the GVMC authorities for several open manholes and drains in the city.

Since the intervening night of Thursday and Friday; over 60 community guards, police,

fire service personnel, Armed Reserve constables and local volunteers began searching the entire length of the drain, to the sea where it opens out.

Navy deployed two helicopters to look for the girl, but the rain interrupted the search operations on Friday. HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao asked GVMC commissioner to take action against those responsible for the tragedy after visiting the spot.

Parents of Athidhi C Srinivasa Rao and Radhika are inconsolable. “I think my daughter is still alive since she is yet to be traced,’’ said Rao. His wife remained speechless and so was girl’s grandfather C Venkata Ramana.

Three children became victims of this type of tragedies in a fortnight in the city. A 20 month old boy was torn apart by the stray dogs in a posh area,

another young boy died of electric shock on the beach road and on Thursday, a six year old girl fell into an overflowing drain and went missing.

People living in nearby slums said that, had the driver of the car, who takes the girl home daily, raised an alarm they could have saved the girl.

GVMC Commissioner Praveen Kumar, who was upset with the incident told reporters that prior to monsoon, silt was removed from all the drains to prevent overflowing.

Locals say that, after that, storm water was flowing into the sea in huge volumes through drains. Former civil servant and social activist E A S Sarma demanded legal and departmental action against the GVMC officials responsible for the incident.