To avert accidents and fatalities, the BMC will cover all manholes across the city. A high-level meeting of engineers has been called on Thursday to discuss the issue and find a permanent solution.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday had expressed its displeasure over non-compliance of its 2018 order of covering every single manhole with a protective grill to avoid unfortunate incidents of persons falling into them and losing life. However, only 5,000 manholes out of 75,000 have grills.
Manholes are being secured in flood prone areas
Additional municipal commissioner (projects) P Velrasu said manholes are being secured in the areas that get flooded during the monsoon. He said, “We are also thinking of installing sensors under the manhole lids to get alerts in case of theft. Each grill costs ₹15,000-₹20,000. We are looking for reasonably priced yet safe options. We can’t spend public money indiscriminately.”
Sources said the BMC is also thinking of installing lids made out of fibre but the plan is only on paper.
Number of manholes in the city | FPJ
