OPENING OF MANHOLE AN OFFENCE

The BMC seems to have learnt from its experiences and is in a mood to rectify all its mistakes. So, it has decided to book citizens who are found opening manholes in the city. The BMC informed the Bombay High Court on Monday of its decision to treat such an act by any citizen as an offence.

The civic body also informed a division bench of Justices Rajendra Savant and Kishor Sonawane that it has completed installing protective grills under all the 839 manholes in floodprone areas of Mumbai.

The submissions were made by senior counsel Anil Sakhre, who appeared for the BMC, in response to a PIL filed through advocates Ashish Mehta and Sujay Kantawala, highlighting the BMC inaction in maintaining the city’s manholes.

The PIL was filed just after the demise of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, a gastroenterologist at Bombay Hospital, who died in August last year after slipping into an open manhole.

Having considered the submissions, the bench said there has been ‘some’ progress in the matter but voiced its concern over the absence of any warnings or indicators for the citizens.

“There must be some red flag or a warning post near an open manhole. This will at least alert citizens that they should not step in that direction. The BMC must also ensure that all manholes are maintained and repaired before the onset of monsoon,” the bench said.