Two young people died in the city last week after falling into unsealed manholes, and yet, three manholes brimming with drain water have been lying uncovered on an oft-used road in suburban Borivali for at least the last four days. They have been left lidless, the city administration said, so excess rainwater which hasn’t gone down the drain could find a way out of the overflowing sewer line — into the street.
This inside-out solution – manholes are supposed to channel runoff into the drains, not spew it back out on the roads – comes after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plentiful assurances of having taken precautionary measures to safeguard citizens and commuters during the rainy season.
DNA saw the open manholes on Satya Nagar Road in Sai Baba Nagar, which falls under the jurisdiction of R-Central ward. When contacted for an explanation, assistant municipal commissioner Ramakant Biradar, the ward officer, first suggested that the covers had been stolen. When told a cover could be seen lying next to one of the openings, he said that because of high tide and downpours, water pressure in the drain line below surged and caused the lid to slide off the hole. And the administration decided to leave it open till the water recedes. He said they have “flagged” the spot: a craggy tree branch has been hoisted into the manhole, which is gathering garbage at its gagging lip, to identify it to passing motorists.
A barricade has been planted a few feet from a second uncovered manhole. The third has neither branch nor barricade to identify it.
On Monday, an 18-year-old identified as Arjun lost his life after falling into an open manhole in Malad. Last Friday night, a 24-year-old labourer named Dinesh Jatholiya fell into a manhole covered with plastic sheets in Kurla. The Nehru Nagar police, who have registered a case of negligence against unidentified civic officials, are awaiting a report from the BMC in connection with the death.
Last August, a doctor, Deepak Amrapurkar, fell into an open manhole while wading through waterlogged streets to make his way home.. His death had sparked outrage against the corporation’s negligence.
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 "Manholes")
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