Noida, February 16 A three-year-old boy is alleged to have drowned after falling into a water-filled pit while playing in the Dankaur area of Greater Noida, police said on Monday.
The incident took place on Saturday in Dalelgarh village, where the child had gone to attend a religious function at his maternal uncle's house. He was originally from the Sikandrabad district in Uttar Pradesh.
Munendra Singh, in-charge of the Dankaur police station, said that around 11 am, when family members were busy attending a ceremony at a village temple, the child wandered off while playing.
"He went near a pit filled with water and fell into it. After some time, the family began searching for him and found him in the pit. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead," Singh said.
Meanwhile, the Greater Noida Authority issued a statement on Sunday following the incident.
It said that upon receiving information about the child's death, a team from the authority's concerned work circle reached the spot and found that the land where the pit was located was registered in the name of a local farmer and was not a government pond.
"The child drowned in a water-filled pit on private land. The Authority officials are deeply saddened by the incident," the statement said.
The incident has come a month after a 34-year-old software engineer died in Noida Sector 150 after his car plunged into a deep water-filled trench amid dense midnight fog. The incident sparked allegations of negligence by local authorities and developers due to the absence of any barricading or proper signages at the sharp turn of the road.