3-year-old drowns in water-filled pit in Greater Noida, weeks after techie’s death

A three-year-old boy died after falling into a rainwater-filled pit in Dallelgarh village under the Dankaur police station area of Greater Noida on Saturday, triggering outrage among local residents. The incident comes weeks after a similar tragedy in Sector 150 claimed the life of a 27-year-old tech professional, intensifying concerns over unattended hazardous pits in the region.

The child, Devansh, had come to his maternal grandparents’ home in Dallelgarh from Sikandrabad in Bulandshahr with his mother Anjali. On Saturday, the family attended a community feast (bhandara) at a nearby temple. While playing near the venue, the toddler reportedly slipped and fell into a deep pit that had filled with rainwater.

Family members and villagers began searching when the child went missing and rushed to the spot after discovering he had fallen into the water. Although he was pulled out of the pit, he had already stopped breathing. The sudden death has left the family devastated and the village in mourning.

Residents alleged that the pit had been lying open for a long time and had filled with water after recent rains. They claimed that repeated complaints had been made to the Greater Noida Authority to address such hazards, particularly after the Sector 150 incident, but no effective action was taken to fill the pits or install safety measures.

Responding to the tragedy, the Greater Noida Authority stated that its team reached the site soon after receiving information. In a statement, the authority said the land where the pit existed is registered in the name of a local farmer and is not a government pond, adding that water had accumulated on privately owned land where the child drowned.