Bhubaneswar: A Class VIII student of Baramunda Municipal High School reportedly drowned in a pond near Nilakantheswar temple in Odisha capital on Monday.
The deceased, identified as Om Prakash Pradhan, was staying in Balia Baba Ashram in Khandagiri area.
According to sources, he left for school, where Gandhi Jayanti was scheduled to be celebrated this morning, but stopped at the pond instead. He drowned in the pond while taking a bath.
Drowning has turned out to be one of the major killers in Odisha. The state recorded 1,771 deaths due to drowning in rivers and other waterbodies in the last three years with an average of 590 fatalities annually, Minister of State for Home Tusharkanti Behera told the Assembly last week. The alarming drowning incidents has also prompted the government to put up fencing nets around river ghats. In the first phase, fences will be erected at 100 river ghats at a cost of Rs 2 crore.
