BENGALURU : The tragic death of 6-year-old Kaveri who accidentally fell into a failed open borewell has emerged an eye opener to Government authorities across Karnataka as an aggressive awareness campaign has been mounted to seek farmers seal defunct borewells.
More than 500 Rescuers failed to rescue Kaveri alive even after 50 hours of operations in Zunzarawad village in Athani taluk of Belagavi District early this week.
Some Village Panchayats have started educating farmers about the consequences they may have to face as not covering the defunct borewells attracts punishment including jail term and hefty fine under the law.
Minister for Agriculture Krishna Byregowda had recently told newsmen that rules were in vogue to punish owners of land for not taking steps to close such borewells and avoid tragedy. The farmers themselves should realise the seriousness and take steps to close them.
One of the Village Panchayats resorted to the age-old tradition of making announcement through beating of drums to appeal to the villagers to close the land dug for borewells else face punishment.
More than 12 children in the age group of five to 12 years have died since the last one year in the state after falling into defunct open borewells at various agriculture fields in the state. UNI
