Rourkela: In a tragic mishap, a five year-old boy drowned in an open water tank in a Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) unit in Rourkela in Odisha's Sundargarh district here today. 

The minor boy was identified as Serun Badaik, son of Rohit Badaik, a resident of Chhend Bidyut Colony in the Steel City. 

As per reports, after a long wait, Rohit, had been identified as a beneficiary of PMAY and allotted a housing under the scheme. He was among the residents of five slums in the colony who were rehabilitated to the colony in the first phase of PMAY affordable housing unit distribution. Rohit had shifted to the new accommodation with his family only last week. 

On Wednesday afternoon, his son Serun was playing in the residential area when he accidentally slipped and fell into an open water tank nearby. When his parents could not find him, they launched a frantic search. A while later, a local found his body floating in the tank. He raised an alarm and informed the parents immediately.

Police, on being alerted, reached the site and recovered the body for postmortem. A case of un-natural death has been registered and the exact cause of death will be established after autopsy, official sources said. 

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended in the area as the news of the minor boy's tragic death spread. Following the incident, serious questions are being raised on the efficiency of government developmental works undertaken by contractors and negligence of authorities concerned.