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Two fall into manhole at Mumbai, BMC gets into action
A day after the city received heavy rainfall, the video of two women falling into an open manhole at Bhandup went viral on social media on Thursday
A day after the city received heavy rainfall, the video of two women falling into an open manhole at Bhandup went viral on social media on Thursday. Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has directed the storm water drains department to survey all the manholes in the city and replace the damaged ones at war-footing.
A CCTV captured two women falling into the manhole at Village Road in Bhandup. However, they narrowly escaped from being washed away. Though the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did not confirm if the video was of Wednesday when the city had received heavy rain, on Thursday it replaced the damaged manhole cover. Ahead of monsoon, each of the 24 ward offices is required to inspect all the manholes, as a part of the pre-monsoon works, and replace their lids, if needed.
“However, after yesterday’s heavy rain, BMC is again inspecting all the roads and manholes. Necessary replacement of manholes is being done,” a BMC statement read.
Last year, a 32-year-old woman, Sheetal Dama, had died after falling into an open manhole near Global Hospital in Ghatkopar (East). Two days after the incident, Dama’s body was recovered 22km away from Ghatkopar at Haji Ali in Worli. In July 2019 after heavy rainfall, 18-month-old Divyansh Singh had died after falling into an open drain. The same year, seven-year-old Sumit Jaiswar had died after falling into an open drain at Dharavi, while in Worli, Babu Kumar Paswan drowned after falling into an unprotected water-filled pit.
