A six-month-old infant died after falling from a bed into stagnant water inside her waterlogged home at Debinagar in Birati on Saturday morning.

Some neighbours said that the mother, Puja Ghorui, was busy cooking after putting her infant daughter, Rishika, to sleep. The infant rolled off the bed and fell into the waterlogged room, located at the far end of Ward 13 of the North Dum Dum Municipality.

The father, Papon Ghorui, was away at the time.

“The mother noticed that her daughter was not in bed. She looked around and
saw her lying in the water on the floor. She lifted the child and called for her brother-in-law,” said neighbour Sankar Singh.

“The brother-in-law called me and some other residents of the locality. We rushed her to a nearby hospital,” Singh said.

From there, the infant was taken to Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences in Phoolbagan. A team of doctors checked the child and declared her dead.

The police said a case of unnatural death had been drawn up and they were awaiting the post mortem report.

The family refused to speak to anyone.

Debinagar, a locality in Birati, around 5km from the Calcutta airport, has been waterlogged for the past several days.

Residents complained about how challenging it has been navigating through waterlogged roads to reach their houses, which are also inundated.

They alleged that no effort was made to dredge a nearby canal and increase its capacity. Rainwater remains trapped for days, and it recedes only after a week of dry spell.

Trinamool Congress councillor Prasanta Das said the North Dum Dum Municipality had undertaken a drainage project worth over ₹6 crore to address the waterlogging woes.

“It rained like never before this year. We have already drawn up a project to address this issue,” Das said.

“Waterlogging remains a challenge in at least 19 wards of the municipality,” he added.