India’s Killing Open Sewer Chambers

The tragic death of a doctor by drowning in a manhole in the recent Mumbai rains should be an eye opener for all civic bodies. This is a sheer case of negligence and unaccountability that led to the untimely demise of Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar, a well-known gastroenterologist serving at Bombay Hospital.

Hearing on a PIL the HC has now sought a reply from BMC regarding the status of open manholes in the city and demand has been raised by the litigants to file a FIR against the civic body for negligence under Section 304A of IPC which deals with death due to negligence. The respondents have been given two weeks time to come up with their reply.

Dr. Amrapurkar had fallen into an open manhole at Elphinston during the heavy rains that lashed Mumbai on Tuesday last and his body was recovered a day later at Worli at the other end of the sewage pipeline. The incident saw widespread condemnation of BMC’s ways of working and its unpreparedness to tackle the rains which led to so many deaths in 24 hours.  Open manholes is not a Mumbai-specific issue.

Though Mumbai is a mega city and city of aspirations, being the economic and film capital of India and BMC being the richest civic body in the country, its lapses will naturally be more glaring, yet other municipal bodies across the country cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility because in most big cities, let alone the unimportant smaller ones, open manholes is a burning reality and deaths are also common.

Often there are gaping openings, which unpredictably appear on footpaths and main thoroughfares of cities. Once the chambers are opened for cleaning or other works, they are hardly covered back. Many times the lid is put back in place haphazardly or carelessly that cause accident. The civic bodies hardly bother these discrepancies until some mishap happens. Neglect of manholes is just a part of the whole mess.

Many of our prime city streets are still devoid of proper street lighting or CCTV cams. The roads even in Delhi, which are considered comparatively better than some other cities, are unpredictable and accident prone due to lack of planning or civic negligence. Almost all Indian roads are chronically infested by dogs, pigs and cattle, which give an open invitation to accidents.

Traffic signals are still not in place in many cities. Most roads have sudden undulations, unauthorized speed breakers, and crater size potholes apart from open drains and nullahs. Every new day on the Indian road sets a new test for the driver. Today, an incident like Mumbai can happen in any part of the country. Will we ever learn from our mistakes?-Window To News