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Daily wager falls into open manhole, Punekars cry foul over cover theft
A daily wage worker, 39, fell into an uncovered, 15-foot-deep manhole in Katraj on Saturday. Recalling the incident, Pandurang Tambe, fire brigade officer, says, Vijay Belbahadur, while walking from the side, went to see how deep the uncovered manhole was only to fall into the 15-foot-deep pit. Luckily, the fire brigade team managed to pull him out in three minutes
The latest incident - where a daily wage worker, 39, fell into an uncovered, 15-foot-deep manhole in Katraj on Saturday – has angered Pune residents no end besides once again bringing to the fore the menace of stolen/missing manhole covers in major parts of the city.
Recalling the incident, Pandurang Tambe, fire brigade officer, said, “In the morning on Saturday, a daily wage labourer Vijay Belbahadur, while walking from the side, went to see how deep the uncovered manhole was only to fall into the 15-foot-deep pit. Luckily, the fire brigade team managed to pull him out in three minutes.”
Although there was no major casualty, Katraj residents are worried as there are a couple more manholes with covers missing in the area. Even where manholes have covers, some of these covers have become very old and need replacements.
It’s the same story in other parts of the city such as Kalyani nagar, Balewadi, Pashan and Mundhawa. While the police have strengthened night patrol to curb manhole cover theft which is increasingly posing a threat to citizens’ lives, citizens expect a more immediate solution to the problem, both from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pune police.
Earlier on September 9 in Pimple Gurav, a labourer was similarly saved by a whisker after falling into an uncovered chamber/manhole. He was rushed to the hospital after the accident.
In the month of July, 24 chamber covers were stolen from Baner-Pashan road while in August, Kalyaninagar and Mundhwa residents had to deal with the same problem.
Madhavi Shah, a resident of Kalyaninagar, said, “A few manholes have been covered by barricades while others remain open. The situation was worse in August but has improved now as there are less open manholes.”
An official from the PMC road department on condition of anonymity said, “We have covered manholes in major parts of the city. Wherever work is underway, we have put up barricades. There was a barricade in Katraj as well, where the Saturday incident took place.”
As per official data, there are 1.2 lakh manholes spread across 2,300 km of drainage network in the city limits. Of the 1.2 lakh manholes, 1.05 lakh have reinforced cement concrete lids. Since iron lids give more scrap value, thefts continue in major parts of the city. As a solution to this problem however, iron lids have been replaced by fibre lids that are easy to replace - under the new smart city programme.
“Fibre lids have very low scrap value. In Baner and Pashan, three manhole cover thefts took place recently. All have been replaced by fibre covers,” said an official from the Pune Smart City Development Corporation.
“The police stations of the respective areas have been conducting inquiries about the thefts. A few people were taken in for investigation. Those who have been caught are not involved in other crimes; most of them are first-timers and are stealing covers for the sake of the money,” said a senior police officer from the police commissioner’s office.
