The bright sunshine on Thursday brought a ray for hope for the people of the city as water started receding from low lying areas. The clear blue sky gave enough hints for a rain free day.
However, tragedy struck A 11-year-old boy was drowned while taking bath in the swollen Kharkai river along Shastrinagar under Kadma thana area on Thursday afternoon.
The victim was identified as Sagar Nag, son of Sohan Nag, a resident of Block No 5 at Shastrinagar in Kadma. OC, Kadma thana, RD Singh confirmed about the drowning of a boy in the river.
" We came into action and pressed divers soon after getting a complaint of drowning of the boy. We search in the downstream as the current of the river is very high. But despite search for over three hours, the body could not be traced," said Singh.
The officer-in-charge stated that they have stopped searching for the body as it became dark, but would resume the search next morning.
Sagar was a school dropout and would spend his time by playing outside the house where his parents, father Sohan and mother Yashoda would go to work outside.
Sagar's elder sister, Neha (14) said that she was cooking while her brother had come to house. Neha said Sagar would never go to the river, but he has been going to the river for the past three days.
Meanwhile, drawing lessons from the past the district administration also embarked on a drive to deal with the fear of diarrhea outbreak, which is looming large over the water drenched areas.
The officials are conducting round the clock visit in the areas inundated by swelling of Subernarekha and Kharkhai rivers at Bagbera, Mango, Shastrinagar and Jugsalai areas.
Officials of health department said that they are worried as two of the worst affected areas in the recent viral epidemic Bagbera and Mango localities had large areas inundated by the flash flood like situation.
An official said that the local urban bodies namely Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC), Jugsalai municipality and corporate sector Jusco providing civic amenities in Tata Steel command areas have been asked to initiate fogging in the areas on war footing.
“We are concerned about the situation and working hard to ensure that as the water gets receded steps are taken to combat the fear of epidemic,” he noted.
Health officials said that the situation in some areas was prone to spread of water-borne diseases, including gastroenteritis, cholera, malaria and skin infections.
Though the water is such areas started receding since Wednesday, but a large chunk of land in the low-lying areas faces problem of water logging.
The residents are extremely worried because the sewerage systems have suffered serious damages paving way for unhygienic conditions.