NELLORE: The death of a three-year-old girl after she slipped into an uncapped borewell at a Nellore village is a grim reminder of how people flout safety norms, putting lives of kids in danger. Around 80 per cent borewells in the district are defunct and left uncapped.

Dry spell continuing for third consecutive year has resulted in digging of many of them without official permission.

According to official sources, 43 drill rigs can be used to dig borewells in Nellore between April and July. Authorities concerned with issuing licences for borewells allegedly fail to inspect them, leading to many people drilling beyond the permissible limit of 500-feet.

In many areas, permissions are obtained for a single borewell, but more are dug.Permission from the tahsildar concerned is necessary to dig wells and borewells, said a functionary of an NGO working for conservation of natural resources.

“Most of those sunk by private players are left uncovered. If drilling is unsuccessful, the rig owner or the party concerned has to fill it up with boulders, clay or sand and close it,” he said. “Negligence on the part of revenue authorities, rig owners and private parties is claiming innocent lives. But no one is punished for the violations,” rued an official from the groundwater department.

On Monday, two kids, aged three and four, slipped into a borewell sunk by locals to provide water to a school and a few houses in U Peddapalem village. The boy was pulled out first. After battling for hours, the girl was rescued. She was taken to a hospital as she was unconscious, but died while undergoing treatment.