Convenes urgent committee meeting after boy’s tragic death, letters fly
The Garware Club House management committee held a meeting, on December 21. File pic
Early on Monday, December 19, a three-year-old boy, Hrudyansh Rathod, died after falling from a staircase at the Garware Club House (GCH) at Wankhede Stadium in Churchgate. Rathod slipped through a space in the staircase railing. It was a substantial gap and should have been closed or at least boarded up. The child had gone to use the restroom with his 10-year-old relative, before falling to his death. The club had arranged a special screening of the FIFA World Cup on December 18.
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On December 20, GCH Vice-President Raj Purohit penned a letter to the president of the club Sharad Pawar. In his one-page communication, Purohit stated, “At the outset, let me state that this tragedy and the profound and sudden loss to the whole family has shaken all of us. We all, the managing committee and club members, are at a loss for words. A mountain of grief has fallen on the Rathod family.”
Purohit claimed that he and everybody else at the club are very deeply pained by the tragedy. He went on to say that “this is a wake-up call to all and everything must be done to see that there is no such incident ever again.” He wrote to Pawar that he had suggestions in the wake of the tragedy. “An investigative committee be formed to look into this incident. It should be headed by a respected, well-known and experienced person to see that justice is done and action taken on those responsible.”
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He also suggested that a “charitable trust/foundation be made in the name of the child, to keep his memory alive. Funds collected by the club in this name should be used for social work.” The vice-president also informed the president that he is holding an urgent management committee meeting on December 21 evening to put forth these suggestions to the committee.
Purohit said, “We are in a state of shock. We have all expressed our grief and pain in the meeting. We hope honourable President Pawarji constitutes a committee with a person of high integrity and stature at the helm for the investigation. We are doing all we can to ensure more safeguards so that every woman, child and senior citizen is safe at this venue. We were also extremely proactive in informing the police and we are cooperating with them fully.”
20
The day in December when the letter was written