Yesterday, the Bombay high court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that why it has not installed protective grills on over 74,000 manholes across the city to prevent accidents.

While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Ruju Thakker, the division bench of acting chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and justice Sandeep Marne,was informed that though the PIL was against the pothole menace, which resulted in loss of lives, open manholes were also a cause for concern as citizens have died after falling into them.

The Court's query came after BMC submitted that around 1,908 manholes in flood-prone areas have protective grills. The HC said that the BMC should install grills on all manholes as there was a likelihood of people falling into manholes in non-flood-prone areas as well.

The petitioner, in its PIL alleged that the civic body had failed to implement the high court order of 2018 wherein the BMC was directed to repair potholes along all arterial roads in the city and devise a mechanism to address citizens’ grievances related to bad roads and potholes.

Further, BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal submits that the civic body was exploring the option of geo-tagging manhole covers so that the missing ones are promptly replaced for the safety of citizens.

During the last hearing, the bench directs BMC to submit report whether the civic body was constituting a special cell to address the problem of open manholes during monsoon.

Thereafter, the BMC filed an affidavit which stated that the Disaster Management Committee would act as the coordinating cell for the issue of open manholes.

Senior advocate Anil Sakhare for the BMC informed the bench that each protective grill costs ₹14,000, hence only manholes in flood-prone areas were installed with them. He assured the bench that in the event of a manhole cover being stolen, the concerned ward officer will take immediate action and fix it within eight hours.

Advocate Jamshed Mistry, the amicus curiae in the case, stressed that if spending ₹14,000 could save lives, the civic body should do so. Mistry was referring to the 2018 incident when a doctor had drowned after falling into an open manhole during monsoon.

“Five years have gone by, yet less than 10% of manholes have protective grills. Prima facie we find no reason as to why the same protective measure is not extended to all manholes, so that no such incident takes place, as it is quite likely that areas not supposed to be flooded for some reason face this issue,” the court noted.

Sakhare then assured the bench that the observations of the court would be conveyed to the officer concerned. The bench accepted the assurance and sought to know the stand of the civic body in reference to the discussions during the hearing and sought a reply on June 19.

“All the assistant commissioners and chief engineers of central agencies are hereby directed to take a survey of manholes falling under their jurisdictions, latest by June 19, and personally ensure that not a single manhole remains open,” the press note said.

Chahal has warned the officials that if any such reports or complaints are received after Monday, it shall be viewed very seriously.