Safety nets in less than 1% manholes in Mumbai

The safety net inside the manhole is one of the most important precautionary measure needs to be adopted for open manholes. In the past two years, BMC has fixed safety nets in just 2,736 manholes, that is below 1% of the total manholes. The average cost of the manhole cover is Rs 10,000.

Many a times BMC employees keep the manholes open in heavy rain to drain out water. As per norms, the civic body should to appoint someone near open manholes, but in most cases no one is monitoring. Even locals are seen removing the cover to drain out the rainwater, and at other times, the iron covers are stolen.

After the death of Dr Amrapurkar who drowned in an open manhole in 2017, civic body started fixing iron safety nets inside manholes. In the first year, before the onset of monsoon in 2018, safety nets were fixed in 1,425 manholes.

After complaints, BMC made a provision in the budget, and spent Rs 1.21 crores on 1,311 manholes, out of which 422 are from Eastern suburbs and 547 from Western suburbs. These included circular and rectangle covers of various size with an average cost of Rs 10,000.

Though the civic body fixed safety of 2,736 manholes, they are merely 0.75% of the total manholes. There are overall 3.60 lakh manholes in the city. "We can't fix safety nets in every manhole in one phase. It will take some time," said an officer from the BMC.