Borewell deaths

THE PROBLEM

Last year a friend of mine talked to me about this issue of bore-well deaths. I had no clue about this until she pointed it out. Basically, what is happening is, people dig very very deep bore-wells hoping to strike water. Which is a good idea, BUT, in case they do not strike water, they do not care to cover up the well! The result is horrendous! These are some headlines my friend has compiled:

"A nine-year-old boy who fell into an open borewell in Karnataka's Raichur district was today found dead after a 55-hour operation to rescue him. The body of Sandeep, which had started decomposing, was pulled out of the borewell in Neermanvi village in the district this evening, Additional Superintendent of Police P B Kitali told PTI. He fell into the abandoned borewell in an agricultural field at around noon on Tuesday and was stuck at a depth of about 40 feet. "

"Ujjain, Dec. 31 (PTI): An eight-year-old boy died after falling into a 200-foot-deep borewell despite a rescue by the district administration. Kalu Singh was trapped at a depth of 40 feet after he slipped and fell into the well yesterday. He was pulled out early today but died before he could be treated."

"Bhavnagar, March 11 (PTI): A four-year-old girl who fell into a 60-ft-deep borewell died here this evening before experts from the army and ONGC could arrive. Aarti Chavda fell into the abandoned well while playing."

"Bikaner, April 2007: Girl trapped in borewell dies. A one-and-a-half year old girl, who got trapped inside a 155-feet deep borewell at a village in Bikaner two days ago, was found dead"

"MP: Boy falls into borewell. A three-year-old boy fell into a 50ft borewell at Goreshwar village near on Sunday, prompting the administration to launch a rescue operation"

"Bangalore: A nine-year-old boy, who was trapped in an abandoned bore-well in a farmland in north Karnataka since Tuesday, was found dead Thursday, police said."

"Dharmapuri Feb.16. Two persons were arrested yesterday in connection with the death of a four-year-old boy, who fell into a 605-foot deep borewell at Athiyaman Kottai here on Friday."

There are a lot more such incidents that she had in her report. I have picked just a few of them to highlight the point that the problem is all over India! Rescue teams spend hours and some times days in futile attempts to save these little kids. A lot of money is also spent in these missions. In most cases they are unable to save the kids. The owners are arrested and prosecuted, but yet, not many folks bother to cover up these pits.

THE SOLUTION

The first thing that would come to mind to prevent this is to cover the pits with chamber covers. But this would not work! The covers would get stolen in NO time! The solution that my friend, a landscape architect, has come with is this:

The easiest way to stop this is getting the borewell agencies to list sites where they havent struck water....and simply plant a tree in them. These pits are 9" to 3' in diameter and go upto 80-150' down. The roots will hold on to the soil and fill the pit as well as make the world lil greener. A root ball is 15" to 18". We can get plants about 15' tall. If they are smaller, we can put 3 plants around the pit. Within one monsoon, the plant should take charge of filling in the pit by holding onto the soil. Plants have a natural tendency to move towards sunlight, similarly underground the roots move in the direction of easy penetration or loose soil as compared to hard rock... If the pit is too wide to plant something in, it can be surrounded by 3 plants forming a protective ring to warn people.

The most important thing, though, is to find these unguarded pits. My friend is looking into what sort of registration (if any) is done before digging is started, and when the work is finished.

It is an extremely simple and effective solution to a horrendous problem!

Trees Vs Foundation Stones

Many defence campuses date to pre-independence times, like the one in Sulur, near Coimbatore. Such self-contained residence-cum-office complexes are pretty green oases in cities and elsewhere. I have seen that the IISc campus is a welcome 2 degrees cooler than the areas outside its peripheral boundary. Traffic is never dense, most staff cycle to work and children can really walk to school.
Yes, the campus is green. However, at every turn, the presence of a 'foundation stone' is at odds with the ambience. There are nearly as many such plaques as - hold your breath - the number of heads of organization(s) over the years, visiting VIP's and their spouses. Imagine the accumulated concrete and granite over the seven decades of the campus's existence. Understandably, the stones have been 'planted' to mark the inauguration of parks and sports courts, construction of building X and subway Y and achievement Z. You may even find two stones per landmark event (when the task was seen through by more than one person at the helm).
It's not too impractical, or idealistic, to dream of an even greener campus, is it? In the place of each stone, why not plant a sapling of a local tree variety? Within campuses also, but more so at the venues of much-tom-tom'ed public inaugurations by political, bureaucratic and industrial bigwigs.
A couple of years ago someone asked me to check out the presence of such a stone dating to 1982. I did, it was in place, albeit well-weathered. I hope to happily reply to such queries henceforth: 'Oh, yes, under that tree the local children attend regular evening classes'...