GHAZIABAD: The inquiry committee formed by Ghaziabad Development Authority vice-chairperson Kanchan Verma to probe the death of a nine-year-old girl after she fell into an open drain on Mohan Nagar Link Road in Indirapuram on October 19 has filed its report, indicting two GDA engineers. Verma has sent the report to the state government with a recommendation of ‘stringent’ action against the engineers Verma said, “The committee has held two GDA engineers responsible... Since, as a rule, we cannot take action against erring engineers on our own, we have sent the report to the state government and recommended stringent action against them.”She, however, refused to divulge the names of the engineers or the nature of action recommended against them. “It would be inappropriate on my part to divulge the names or even the nature of action recommended because the report has been sent to the state government and it is now for them decide on it,” she said.This is the second committee set up by Verma to probe the incident. The report filed by an earlier committee, which was led by officer on special duty (OSD) V K Singh and including executive engineer S K Sinha and assistant engineer S K Chauhan from GDA’s executive wing, had been inconclusive. So, Verma had formed this committee, including additional secretary C P Tripathi and chief engineer V N Singh, to carry out a fresh investigation.Earlier, a magisterial inquiry was also carried out on the orders of district magistrate Ritu Maheshwari by subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Vivek Mishra. Nine GDA engineers and officials were named in the related report. While seven engineers were held directly responsible, two were found to be partially responsible for the incident.On October 19, Priyanka, a resident of Kanawani village, her father and uncle took a short cut to reach home from a Dussehra fair in Shakti Khand. The route, on the main road near Ahimsa Khand 2, was dark and she slipped into a drain near Pinnacle Tower. Her father jumped after her but couldn’t find her. A rescue team of NDRF pulled out her body after 13 hours had passed. GDA officials were allegedly late to provide a blueprint of the drain which delayed the rescue operations.An FIR has been registered against GDA by the family members of Priyanka.The authority is charged under Section 304(a) (causing death due to negligence) of IPC.

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