Kolkata: A four-year-old child died after falling into a pond inside Eco Park in New Town on Saturday evening. State Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim has subsequently ordered an inquiry into the incident.
On Sunday, Eco Park authorities put up a fence around the pond so that no one can have access to it.
According to sources, on Saturday afternoon Sheikh Akbar of Taltala went to Eco Park with his wife and four-year-old son Sheikh Abez along with another family. After completing the tour inside the park, the two families were having some snacks sitting adjacent to the children's park near Eco Park gate number 4 at around 3:30 pm.
All of a sudden, Akbar noticed that Abez was not there. Immediately, they started looking for the child but failed to locate him.
After a few minutes of searching, they went to the park manager's office and sought assistance. It has been alleged that the authorities did not do anything other than announcing to look for a missing child.
After almost an hour, Eco Park authorities and Akbar informed the police outpost inside the park. Later, New Town police station was also informed.
After police arrived, officials took stock of the situation and identified a small pond adjacent to the area where Abez was sitting with his parents. The pond was filled with water hyacinths.
Suspecting that the child might have had fallen into the pond, police called a Disaster Management Group (DMG) team. At around 7:30 pm, divers of DMG fished out Abez from the pond. He was rushed to a private hospital near Haldiram's where he was declared brought dead.
Akbar alleged that his child had fallen into the pond due to negligence of the security staff of Eco Park. On Sunday, he lodged a complaint at the New Town police station against the Eco Park authorities.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Hakim expressed his condolences to the child's family. He is also surprised about how the child fell into the pond and no one saw him.
"It is quite surprising that one saw him. Though it is not a visiting area where the pond is located, I cannot understand why his parents or any security staff did not notice the child.
I have told Debasish Sen to conduct an inquiry," Hakim added.