The well where the mishap occurred. (Express Photo) A row of burning pyres in this eastern Uttar Pradesh village tells many stories. A crush of women desperately trying to climb out of a deep, narrow well. An army man’s daughter who died saving others. An ambulance that arrived only an hour-and-a-half later. People laying their daughters and wives to rest.
Two days on, Navua Naurangia in Kushinagar district is still coming to terms with the night when many of its women and girls fell into an unused, decades-old well, after a cement slab covering it gave way under their weight. They were all at a wedding ceremony.
Five women and eight girls died. The youngest among them was one-year-old Pari, who died in her mother’s arms.
Residents recalled trying to pull out the women with ropes, sarees, ladders and just about anything else they could lay their hands on, relying only on the light from their phones and torches.
Mixed with their grief are several questions. Why was the well not repaired using the gram panchayat funds? Why did the ambulance not arrive on time? Why did they have to fight for first-aid with an allegedly drunk pharmacist at the community health centre?
“It’s a 40-foot well and was not used for decades as its water had become dirty. There is a marriage ritual that takes place near the well. Most of the time this well was used as there is an open space near it for women and girls to come together, dance and sing. That night was no different until we heard a woman running towards us shouting ‘kuwein mein auratein gir gayi hain’,” said Rajnish Kumar, a bank mitra in the village and one of the first people to reach the spot.
The men first tried to lower ropes and sarees but the women and girls found them difficult to grip in that congested space, all the while gulping dirty black water. Then they tried lowering a cane ladder. It simply sank in the water. The residents also called the police, the ‘108’ ambulance service, as well as tankers to extract water from the well. They tied two more cane ladders together and lowered it into the well.
“The police arrived soon and tried to help. People from the administration also arrived. But an ambulance did not come for more than one-and-a-half hours despite repeated calls. They are parked at the community health centre, which is hardly 3 km away,” said Anupam Kumar, who took some of the victims in his Alto to the CHC. “They had swallowed black water. They were foaming at the mouth, unable to breathe. Had the ambulance arrived sooner, maybe at least 3-4 people could have been saved”
Outside his house, Ramesh Chaurasia, 40, sat crying inconsolably. He had just lit the pyres of his wife, Mamta and sister-in-law Shakuntala — and buried his niece Pari.
Sitting with his 13-year-old son, Chaurasia said: “We were searching for our family members, just hoping that they would not be inside. The bodies coming out were covered in dirty water and mud. I realised that my wife was among those who fell from a slipper and a shawl that were fished out.”
The in-charge of the community health centre has been transferred and the pharmacist suspended.
The new in-charge, Dr Prabhu Kumar, a paediatrician, tried to rebut allegations that they did not respond in time, claiming that the services for the ambulances — just 3 km away from the village — fell under a control room in Lucknow.
Drivers Jitendra Kumar and Ram Yadav said there were four ambulances at the CHC, two attached with the 108 service and two with the 102 service for women.
“While one was on night-off, the one parked ambulance was for the 102 service. The two ‘108’ ambulances were already in Shubha Chappra and Atardiha areas about 8 to 10km away bringing patients,” said Jitendra. “We came back from there and went to the spot. By that time, people had brought most of the victims in either their private vehicles or the police vehicle.”
The explanations ring hollow for the kin of the victims.
Among them is 45-year-old Rita Kushwaha, a widow who lost her younger daughter, Radhika, 15. Her elder daughter, Karishma, survived. Rita, who works as a farm labourer, had struggled to get her children, including two sons, educated on her paltry earnings. Unlike men who earned Rs 250-300 for a day’s work, she got only Rs 100. “Mahilaon ke liye kam rate hai,” a resident tried to explain.
“Both of us used to go to our private school together on a bicycle. Radhika was there next to me one moment. She climbed on that well, and in the next minute she was gone” said Karishma.
A few houses away, Balwant Yadav, a Hawaldar in the Army’s Artillery Regiment, quietly mourned the loss of his 21-year-old daughter Pooja Yadav. His wife is being treated at the district hospital.
Yadav, who is posted in Delhi, was not present at the time of the tragedy.
Munib Kushwaha, one of those involved in the rescue, said: “Pooja, too, fell in the well with her mother and others but pushed them up from the inside as we tried to tie a rope around them. She saved her mother and a few other kids, but lost control and fell inside.”
Her father recalled: “She was preparing to join the army. We never treated her like a girl. Humnein use kabhi larki nahi samjha. Woh darti nahi thi, ek sportsman ki tarah thi.”
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