Hubli: The state government is contemplating to stop the rescue operation to extract six-year old boy Timmanna Hatti, who is trapped in a 160-feet borewell in Sulikeri village of Bagalkot district, on Sunday.
The officials on Friday held a meeting with the villagers, who warned that they will launch a protest if the digging work is not stopped immediately. The district administration submitted a report to the government and the advocate general on Friday, reporting the ground realities and implications of continuing with the rescue operation.
The government will get a legal opinion from the advocate general and then take decision on stopping the rescue work. In the report, the officials have warned that the vertical wall created by the digging work could collapse if the rescue work is continued.
The boy’s father, Hanumathappa Hatti, has agreed to give an affidavit owning the responsibility for keeping the borewell open and granting his permission to stop the rescue work.
Local legislator J.T. Patil said that the rescue operation may take several more days, and that government will take a final decision on Saturday on stopping the work. He has announced Rs 1 lakh compensation and the district in-charge minister another Rs 2 lakh to the family of the deceased. In a last-ditch effort to extract the boy, the district administration had roped in retired professor of Indian Institute of Science Srinivas Murthy, who is also a soil expert.
