Blow the whistle before it’s too late

Pushpa Girimaji

The recent death of a gastroenterologist in Mumbai on account of a fall into an open manhole during the torrential rain in the city is a reminder of similar accidents that have happened earlier too. How do we, as citizens, prevent such tragic incidents?

I am really glad that you have raised this issue because unless citizens act as pressure groups, our civic authorities will not perform the way they should. I must mention here that as per the statistical data put out by the National Crime Records Bureau, open manholes killed as many as 167 persons and injured five in the country in 2015. Uncovered, unprotected trenches, ‘nullahs ‘and pits took an even heavier toll. As many as 730 fell into them during the year. While 663 died, 65 suffered injuries. During the previous year, 195 persons died by falling into open manholes, while 780 died on account of accidental fall into open pits, as per the data.

Behind each of these tragic deaths is a tale of callous indifference exhibited by the municipal authorities to the safety of the citizens and to the duty of care entrusted to them. If only these authorities had done their job and closed the death traps on roads and pavements, so many lives would not have ended so abruptly and tragically every year. Ironically, the local bodies are well aware of the consequences of their dereliction of duty. Yet, they fail to take certain simple measures such as closing the manholes and other death traps or barricading them to prevent untoward incidents, just because there is no accountability.

So, citizen groups should get pro-active, start taking pictures of open manholes and trenches wherever they see them and start sending them to civic authorities. They must also seek information, through the Right to Information Act, on the number of manholes in the city/town/locality and the last time they were checked to ensure that the lids were in place. In a few states, the civic authorities have provided WhatsApp numbers for citizens to report open manholes and pits. You can also pressurise the civic authorities in your locality, through municipal councillors/MLAs, to provide such facilities and fix a time limit within which the complaints are attended to. Those who fail to act should be named and shamed. Steps such as these should certainly make the civic authorities sit up and perform!

Have courts awarded compensation to the victims or their families in such cases? 

Courts have, in a number of such cases, awarded compensation. Last November, for example, the Delhi High court awarded compensation in five such cases — in four of the cases, the death had occurred on account of people falling into a ‘Ganda Nullah’ in Mangolpuri, which had been left uncovered and un-barricaded. In fact, one of the persons had died while trying to save two children who had fallen into it. In the fifth case, a child had fallen into an open manhole and died. But what was most distressing in this case was that the local authorities were squabbling over who was at fault! While the Public Works Department said the fault lay with the Delhi Jal Board, the latter said the former should have informed it about the open manhole on its site! The Delhi High Court said in disgust: “…a statutory body does not have to be informed of its duty; it was an obligation on the part of the statutory body to perform its duties…” (Urmila Devi Vs MCD, Writ petition( C) No 1170 of 2007, decided on November 3, 2016))

The court held the civic authorities guilty of negligence and awarded compensation to the families of the victims, but that is not enough. Like the Supreme court said in Lucknow Development Authority Vs MK Gupta, way back in 1993, the compensation paid to the victims in cases like these, should be recovered from those who are actually responsible for the tragedy, on account of their failure to perform their statutory function. So this should become the norm in every such case.

In addition, those responsible for failing to cover and barricade manholes and pits, should also be held criminally liable under the Indian Penal code for causing death by negligence. (Also, the punishment provided under Section 304 A – causing death by negligence — must be enhanced from the present two years). In fact, it’s time that the municipal laws had an in-built clause to hold those guilty of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, criminally accountable.