The boy was sleeping when a snake entered the family’s hutment and bit him. “The family — Shiv Kumar, mother Suman and five sisters — woke up after Suraj suddenly shouted in his sleep and spotted the snake by the bed,” said Kulwant Singh Kaler, Phase XI Residents’ Welfare Association president.

The family rushed Suraj to GMCH-32, Chandigarh, where he died. Suraj’s last rites were performed at the crematorium in Phase VI on Sunday afternoon.

The family had been residing in a makeshift jhuggi in a vacant plot adjoining house number 863 for six years.

Taking a cue from the incident, the RWA has threatened to organise a mass public agitation in collaboration with other RWAs of the town, if the unchecked wild growth in vacant plots across Mohali is not cleared within a week.

Kaler accused the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) of paying no heed to their repeated requests of clearing the growth. “We had even met GMADA Chief Administrator Vivek Partap Singh on July 3 to submit a memorandum of our demands,” he said.

“According to the norms, the vacant plots should be cleared twice every year. But despite charging a hefty extension fee, the GMADA is not doing its bit,” alleged Kaler.

GMADA Additional Chief Administrator Balwinder Singh Multani assured that he will look into the matter and take necessary action.

Regarding today’s incident, Multani said the GMADA cannot be blamed for the death as the family was illegally occupying the vacant plot. “They should have known that living amid wild growth is dangerous,” he said.