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Painter’s Body Retrieved From Uncovered Drain in Lucknow as Citywide Repairs Begin

Municipal authorities have launched a citywide campaign to cover open drains following the engineer’s suspension, FIR registration, contractor blacklisting, with ₹9 lakh announced in relief.

Our teams are at both the incident site and the Sarkata drain. We are trying our best to trace him, said Lucknow municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar. (HT photo)
Open drain can be seen at Wazirganj area in Lucknow on Monday (Mushtaq Ali/HT Photo)
People gather at the spot, close to Shantinagar intersection in the vicinity of IIM Road, where the body was recovered at 11 am on Sunday. (Deepak Gupta/HT)
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Overview

  • The body of 45-year-old painter Suresh Lodhi was recovered by SDRF and municipal teams about 1–1.5 km from the Thakurganj site and has been sent for post-mortem.
  • The Uttar Pradesh government suspended junior engineer Raman Kumar Singh, registered an FIR against cleaning contractor Anika Enterprises and blacklisted the firm for alleged negligence.
  • Lucknow Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Kumar directed a special drive to immediately cover exposed drains and repair broken slabs across the city.
  • Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved ₹9 lakh in aid from relief funds to support Lodhi’s wife and three minor children.
  • Residents had repeatedly warned authorities about the broken drain slab hidden by waterlogging, underscoring long-standing maintenance lapses in the ageing drainage network.