With heavy rains that lashed the city for the past couple of days waterlogging several areas, a woman who was walking on a footpath in Bhusari Colony locality to give raincoat to her husband fell into an open manhole on Wednesday evening.
Luckily, the victim, Shraddha Damle of Bhusari Colony, was able to pull herself out of the death trap as the open umbrella that she was holding in the rain got stuck at the entrance to manhole.
“I was walking on the footpath to give raincoat to my husband who was at a cyber cafe as it was raining in our area. As the street was waterlogged I couldn’t see the footpath properly. Even as I walked a few steps, I was suddenly sucked into a open manhole,” Damle said.
She said that she went under water once and resurfaced before noticing that the open umbrella that she was holding with one hand had got stuck at the mouth of the manhole.
“I don’t know how to swim and was really scared. The water was up to my neck and there was no one in sight on the dimly-lit road. I mustered courage and put my other hand out and started pushing myself out of the manhole. It was then that a girl who was passing by came to my help,” said the former journalist who now works with a publishing house. Damle said that the manhole was so deep and she couldn’t feel its bottom.
“I shudder to think what would have happened if a child had fallen into this manhole,” she said, adding that a cellphone that she had purchased a day before also got conked out in the incident.
PMC fails to act on activist’s warnings on drainage lids
Had the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) taken activist Vilas Lele’s letter along with a compact disc (CD) containing 300 photographs of drainage lids seriously, the incident of Shraddha Damle falling in the manhole would have been prevented.
After Lele was informed about the incident, Lele showed readiness to visit the spot. After examining the spot, he said that it was a manhole and the incident has occurred only because the the proper construction and drainage lid is not fitted on the chamber where the drainage pipeline is brought under the main road at the by-lane near Kothrud bus depot and Bhusari Colony.
On September 2 Lele, who is co-organiser of Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, raised the issue during the Lokshahi Din at the PMC. Lele has done a detailed survey of 2,000 drainage lids and prepared a CD of select 300 lids which are not in line with the road, creating a danger for people.
Lele tried to raise the issue during Lokshahi Din, but PMC commissioner Mahesh Parthak tried to skirt the issue by saying it was a social issue. Lele stood firm and insisted that it was the question of danger to the lives. Lele then submitted his memorandum, which blamed the PMC and the corporators for not ensuring safe drainage lids.
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