Mumbai deluge: Who killed doctor Amarapurkar? Locals, not us, says BMC probe | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Mumbai deluge: Who killed doctor Amarapurkar? Locals, not us, says BMC probe

Hindustan Times | By, Mumbai
Sep 23, 2017 12:15 AM IST

The report hails the work done by the staff of G/south ward, where the incident took place, for tackling the complaints and performing their duties as expected

The civic body’s inquiry report into the death of Dr Deepak Amarapurkar , who died after falling into an open manhole at Elphinstone Road junction during the August 29 deluge, gave a clean chit to its staff. The report concluded the BMC staff was not responsible for the incident and the according to CCTV footage, a group of four to six individuals had opened the manhole during the heavy downpour. It also states the group concerned left the manhole uncovered.

Dr Deepak Amarapurkar died after falling into an open manhole at Elphinstone Road junction during the August 29 deluge.
Dr Deepak Amarapurkar died after falling into an open manhole at Elphinstone Road junction during the August 29 deluge.

The report hails the work done by the staff of G/south ward, where the incident took place, for tackling the complaints and performing their duties as expected. “They [BMC staff] have not received any complaint about the manholes unauthorisedly opened by some citizens and hence could not attend the incident spot to guard or close the manhole,” read the report. The inquiry report also asked the police to enquire into unsubstantiated and unfounded allegations against the BMC.

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The report, submitted by additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal, also included a recommendation to avoid such incidents in the future. The report also mentioned three suggestions from citizens for better manhole designs, which will be further studied. One of the suggestions includes police intervention and awareness among the public. According to the report, during flooding of more than 2-3 feet depth on any road, police should divert people to safer locations wherever possible.

To enhance the pumping station capacity, the civic body will install mechanical automatic grabs to cleaning garbage.

The report also blames the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the delay in warning the public of heavy rain. “The rainfall from August 29th to 30th was 333 mm, which falls in the extremely heavy category. Although the prediction (from IMD) was heavy rainfall at few places, actually there was more than 200 mm rainfall at 26 rain gauge stations. If the prediction would have been for extremely heavy rainfall, then the SOP for the same would have been activated and citizens would have been intimated in advance with bulk SMS’s and rescue teams would have been posted in anticipation at vulnerable spots,” read the report.

The report has requested for specific prediction for Mumbai and a presence of an official from IMD in disaster management unit for better coordination.

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