Mumbaikars waiting death traps laid by civic agencies

A biker crashes into a trench and dies, lying in a tangle of wires under the weight of his motorcycle. An old lady steps out of her house and falls into an open drain and dies. People walking on sidewalks fall into open manholes, suffering grievous injuries, sometimes even losing their lives.

What were once freak accidents are becoming increasingly common, but the culprits — various civic agencies and utilities — carry on regardless, laying their death traps elsewhere. Thanks to these agencies, daily life in Mumbai is fraught with peril. Almost everyone knows at least one tricky patch in her everyday commute — a long unlit stretch, a spine-rattling swathe of tarmac, a monster pothole, dividers jutting out....

More galling is the attitude of the agencies, which unabashedly blame the victim in each instance, coolly ignoring their own negligence. How difficult, or expensive, is it to put a barricade around a trench, or to mark an open manhole with a hazard light? But no, they expect you to watch your step, even when the street is cloaked in darkness.

That is why these agencies must be taken to task. For one, safeguards around public works must be mandatory. Also, a grievance redress system like the consumer courts should be set up to try cases of negligence, punish erring officials with even imprisonment, and penalise the agencies with prohibitive fines, all in a swift, efficient manner. Only then will these callous officials learn to value the citizen’s life and limb.