The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the DDA to pay Rs 20 lakh compensation to the family of a mother-son duo who died after falling into an open drain in Ghazipur during rains in July. The DDA counsel initially said it was ready to pay Rs 15 lakh as compensation to the victim’s family, but a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan asked it to pay Rs 20 lakh instead.
On the order of the bench, the counsel for DDA said that it is ready to pay Rs 20 lakh to the legal heirs of the deceased, Tanuja and Priyansh. The order of the bench also included Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. The High Court was hearing a PIL. The PIL filed by Jhunnu Lal Srivastava, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase 3, sought action against the contractor and DDA officials for their alleged negligence for this incident. A woman and her three-year-old son died in this incident.
Tanuja and her son Priyansh drowned in a half-open under-construction drain on a waterlogged road in east Delhi’s Ghazipur area due to heavy rains in Delhi-NCR on the evening of July 31. Delhi Police told the court that a draft chargesheet has been prepared in the criminal case related to the deaths. The final chargesheet will be filed after getting sanction from competent authorities to prosecute those responsible.
The Delhi Police counsel had earlier told the court that the DDA contractor had left the drain open after carrying out some work at the site. Considering the stance taken by the authorities, the court observed that no further order was called for in this regard and closed the proceedings in the case.
The court also took on record the assurance of the MCD that all repair, redevelopment and construction work in the area where the incident took place will be completed by December. After seeing the pictures of the drains, the court said that the place is still very dirty. The court asked the civic body to get it cleaned as the threat of dengue is increasing in Delhi.
Last month, the court pulled up the DDA over the death of the mother and son. The court had said that the officials had not inspected the work done there by the contractor, who had allegedly left some parts of the drain open. After this, the court had asked the DDA counsel to seek instructions on payment of compensation to the victim’s family before the next date of hearing.