Potholes, open manholes turn into death traps on city roads

Thanks to the callousness on part of the authorities, city roads have turned into death traps with deep potholes and open manholes. No political representative or the official concerned is prepared to own the responsibility.

On Sunday, a five-year-old boy had a providential escape after falling in an open manhole. Thanks to some passers-by who noticed him falling in the open and uncovered manhole, he might have got flushed away with the drain water. The entire scene was recorded in CCTV footage in Golden Avenue Colony, Rahon Road, and the video was circulated on social media platforms but hardly any preventive measures have been taken as open/broken manholes were seen on Monday too.

Visit any road in the city, potholes will greet you. As if that was not enough, the Municipal Corporation has left several manholes open without any cover. As accountability is rarely fixed as those responsible hardly get penalised, the carelessness continues unabated. Open sewerages and manholes are seen all over.

Talking to The Tribune, Pankaj Sharma, president of the Association of Trade and Industrial Undertakings, here, said: “Open manholes are all over Focal Points. There is hardly any phase where all manholes or sewerages are covered. My factory is in Phase IV and there is an open manhole near it.”

Incident taken non-seriously

Mayor Inderjeet Kaur, after being contacted twice, texted since she was out of station, the MC authorities can be contacted.

MLA Madan Lal Bagga said since the area where the child fell in manhole, was not under his jurisdiction, he would not like to comment on it.

Show-cause notice issued, says MC chief

MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal, however, said a show-cause notice had been served to the supervisor in this regard. He further elaborated on the particular incident saying that the cleaning process of sewerages in the area was on and workers were working on another manhole a few yards away when the incident occurred. When asked that there were many manholes, which were not covered, the MC chief said there were about 1 lakh manholes in the city and most of these were covered. There could be a few which might be damaged by heavy vehicles in Focal Point areas. These were being repaired on an urgent basis when the same comes to authorities’ notice.

He said workers should have covered the manhole in which the child fell when the cleaning of the other manhole was on.

RTI activist writes to human rights panel

Meanwhile, Arvind Sharma, an RTI activist, has written to the Punjab State Human Right Commission about the incident. He said it was a criminal negligence and it could prove fatal if the passer-by had not saved the life of the child. He requested the commission to take action against the negligence of officials.