Pune: A six-year-old boy drowned after falling into the stagnant waters of an under-maintenance swimming pool at the Park View housing society in Dhayari around 8.30pm on Tuesday.
The society, with two multi-storied buildings of 18 and 13 floors, has a total of 366 flats with a club house, swimming pool and other facilities.
The Nanded City police identified the boy as Yash Harshad Gosavi, who had arrived at his grandparents’ flat in the society on Sunday with his parents for a summer vacation stay. His father works with a public sector bank and is posted at Khopoli, while his mother is a housewife. The family stayed in a rented accommodation in Khopoli and Yash was studying in Std II at a school there, police said.
“We are ascertaining the circumstances that led the boy to fall into the pool waters. For now, we have registered a case of accidental death. We will record statements of all those concerned as part of our investigation to establish negligence on the part of any society office-bearer,” senior inspector Atul Bhos told TOI on Wednesday.
The officer said, “The society residents told us that Yash was playing with some other children from the society at an open space near the pool. His grandfather was with other members at a senior citizens recreational facility. In the evening, the grandfather asked Yash to go back home. Thereafter, nobody saw the boy. When the family realised that Yash was not seen around, they started an elaborate search with other members of the society. The boy was finally spotted afloat in the pool waters around 8.30pm. He was pulled out and taken to a nearby private hospital and later to the Sassoon General Hospital after he was declared dead.”
Bhos said, “We received information about the incident from the private hospital at 9.40pm. A post-mortem was conducted at the Sassoon General Hospital, and the report stated drowning as the cause of his death.”
Police officers wondered how a neglected swimming pool in the society was allowed to accumulate stagnant water, reaching almost 3 feet. They questioned why the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) failed to take action, despite the serious health risks posed by the stagnant water, including the potential spread of diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya, among others.
A senior official from PMC’s Sinhagad ward office said, “We conduct inspection of stagnated water sites whenever there is an outbreak of water-borne ailments. These checks are carried out mostly during the rainy season to see if mosquito breeding is taking place at a large scale. The civic administration will send a team for inspection at the accident spot.”
Another official from the PMC’s building permission department said, “Swimming pools and other facilities within a private housing society belong to that particular establishment. The administration has no role to play in maintaining it. The residents and executive committee must take care of the safety and security of the swimming pool.”
A relative of the boy told TOI, “The Gosavi family originally hails from Shrigonda in Ahilyanagar district and settled in Pune. Yash’s father works with a public-sector bank in Khopoli. He was the only child of his parents.”
Society chairman Sanjay Pathare told TOI, “The swimming pool is 4-foot deep and under maintenance. It has a water level of about three feet. We do not know how the incident took place. Usually, a security man guards the swimming pool during daytime but it remains unguarded during the night hours. There are no CCTV cameras around.”
Pune: A six-year-old boy drowned after falling into the stagnant waters of an under-maintenance swimming pool at the Park View housing society in Dhayari around 8.30pm on Tuesday.
The society, with two multi-storied buildings of 18 and 13 floors, has a total of 366 flats with a club house, swimming pool and other facilities.
The Nanded City police identified the boy as Yash Harshad Gosavi, who had arrived at his grandparents’ flat in the society on Sunday with his parents for a summer vacation stay. His father works with a public sector bank and is posted at Khopoli, while his mother is a housewife. The family stayed in a rented accommodation in Khopoli and Yash was studying in Std II at a school there, police said.
“We are ascertaining the circumstances that led the boy to fall into the pool waters. For now, we have registered a case of accidental death. We will record statements of all those concerned as part of our investigation to establish negligence on the part of any society office-bearer,” senior inspector Atul Bhos told TOI on Wednesday.
The officer said, “The society residents told us that Yash was playing with some other children from the society at an open space near the pool. His grandfather was with other members at a senior citizens recreational facility. In the evening, the grandfather asked Yash to go back home. Thereafter, nobody saw the boy. When the family realised that Yash was not seen around, they started an elaborate search with other members of the society. The boy was finally spotted afloat in the pool waters around 8.30pm. He was pulled out and taken to a nearby private hospital and later to the Sassoon General Hospital after he was declared dead.”
Bhos said, “We received information about the incident from the private hospital at 9.40pm. A post-mortem was conducted at the Sassoon General Hospital, and the report stated drowning as the cause of his death.”
Police officers wondered how a neglected swimming pool in the society was allowed to accumulate stagnant water, reaching almost 3 feet. They questioned why the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) failed to take action, despite the serious health risks posed by the stagnant water, including the potential spread of diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya, among others.
A senior official from PMC’s Sinhagad ward office said, “We conduct inspection of stagnated water sites whenever there is an outbreak of water-borne ailments. These checks are carried out mostly during the rainy season to see if mosquito breeding is taking place at a large scale. The civic administration will send a team for inspection at the accident spot.”
Another official from the PMC’s building permission department said, “Swimming pools and other facilities within a private housing society belong to that particular establishment. The administration has no role to play in maintaining it. The residents and executive committee must take care of the safety and security of the swimming pool.”
A relative of the boy told TOI, “The Gosavi family originally hails from Shrigonda in Ahilyanagar district and settled in Pune. Yash’s father works with a public-sector bank in Khopoli. He was the only child of his parents.”
Society chairman Sanjay Pathare told TOI, “The swimming pool is 4-foot deep and under maintenance. It has a water level of about three feet. We do not know how the incident took place. Usually, a security man guards the swimming pool during daytime but it remains unguarded during the night hours. There are no CCTV cameras around.”
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