BMC utility departments to be held responsible for manhole maintenance in Mumbai

BMC CIVIC chief Ajoy Mehta is taking the issue of open manholes in the city seriously. In a recently held review meeting, he instructed the utility providing departments of the civic body to act on all open manhole complaints within 48 hours.

This comes months after leading city gastroenterologist, Dr Deepak Amr­apurkar, died after accidentally slipping into an open manhole during the August 29 deluge. During the meeting, the local ward offices had opposed taking up the repairs of all manholes as they claimed that fixing manholes was the responsibility of utility providers. The civic body's utility section comprises storm water drains, wa­ter and sewage departments.

The move comes months after city gastroenterologist, Dr Deepak Amr­apurkar, died after slipping into an open manhole during the August 29 deluge. representation pic

A senior civic official, who was present at the meeting, said, "The central agency has been pushing off work to the ward officials. At the meeting, the civic chief made it clear that the utility departments' engineers will have to maintain the manholes and ensure they are covered at all times." The local ward officers were, however, asked to inform the department concerned about any missing lid.

Dr Deepak Amrapurkar

A source close to the BMC chief said, "The commissioner has asked all the utility providing departments of the BMC to ad­d­ress the issue of open manholes within 48 hours on receipt of complaint."