Tiruchirapalli:
Efforts to rescue a two-year-old boy trapped in an abandoned borewell near Tiruchirapalli continued on Monday, with a top Tamil Nadu government official saying the operations will not be given up at any cost. The Commissioner of Revenue Administration J Radhakrishnan said efforts to rescue the child who fell into a borewell at Nadukattupatti near Manapparai in the district will not be given up at any cost and the work would continue. "The rescue operations will not be called off at any cost. There will be no let-up in the efforts. At the same time we don't want to give any false hope to the parents of the child," he told reporters.
He said modern equipment were being used in the rescue efforts, adding work to drill a parallel hole using rigs is affected by the rock mixed soil of the area.
"Whatever is technically possible we are doing... The child is locked in the place now using this technology and it would not drift further. We want to be careful that child should not be affected," Radhakrishnan added. Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, who is camping at the site, said the new borewell being drilled will help a person reach down and rescue the child. Several experts were overseeing the operation, the Minister said adding the rocky terrain and rains were a major challenge.
Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Vasan said no other state government would have taken so much effort to save the child. Thousands of people have been praying for the well-being of the boy and have been joined by celebrities and politicians.
The child had fallen into the borewell while playing near his house at Nadukattupatti on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, an official on Sunday said that the child has fainted, but was breathing. They said steps have been taken to prevent the child from falling down further from 90 feet. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said, "While the nation celebrates Deepavali, in Tamil Nadu a race against time is underway to save baby Surjeeth, who has been trapped in the borewell since Friday. I pray that he will be rescued and reunited with his distraught parents at the earliest." Tamil film star Rajinikanth and actor-politician Kamal Hassan also expressed hope that the boy would be safely rescued. Speaking to reporters at his residence, Rajinikanth said, "I pray for the safe rescue of the boy." "Parents should take care of children and precautionary measures should have been taken," he said.
Kamal Haasan expressed concern over repeated incidents of children falling into defunct borewells. "Efforts to rescue the child who is in danger should succeed. The government should impose hefty fines on those who leave borewells open," he tweeted.
