Speaker Onsari Gharti drew the attention of the government to the drowning of four children in an open pit at Garuda in Rautahat.

Speaker Gharti, at the meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on Sunday, also directed the government to share its response to the incident in the next meeting of the house.

Four children—identified as Sunaina Kumari, nine-year-old daughter of Jogendra Shahi, Sangeeta Kumari, 12, and Sunita Kumari, 9, daughters of Ram Ekbal Shah, and Susmita Kumari, nine-year-old daughter of Prem Narayan Shah—drowned yesterday in an open pit dug during road construction.

Speaking at the meeting, CPN-UML Chief Whip Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal blamed the negligence of the contractor for the incident and sought compensation for the victims' family and action against the guilty.

He also shared that 11 children were killed by drowning in open pits or manholes in the road across the country and demanded compensation for the victim's family and action against the guilty.

Supporting the proposal of Dhakal, all UML lawmakers in the meeting stood from their respective chairs in agreement.

Also, speaking at the meeting during zero hour, lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada said the Rautahat incident is a matter of sadness while heavily coming down on failure for carrying out satisfied work of filling potholes in Kathmandu's roads, a direction issued by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba following the killing of a school girl by drowning in an open manhole.

Other lawmakers like Ram Narayan Bidari, Ram Ayodhya Yadav and Baija Nath Chaudhary demanded action against those failing to repair damaged roads in time. RSS