The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has an image crisis on its hands. It is bristling under the heat generated on Twitter after fund manager Samir Arora almost fell into a manhole in Lower Parel, and will send defamation notices to Mr. Arora and all those who criticised it on Twitter.
The manhole is located on a private premises, despite which Twitterati blamed the BMC, which has already issued a warning letter to the private property. On April 26, Mr. Arora, founder of Helios Capital, escaped after falling into a manhole near Phoenix Mills. He tweeted about it in a reply to a friend’s tweet. The friend in turn tweeted about the incident and said, “The public should throw some of these BMC guys down these open manholes.” To this, Mr. Arora responded, “It was scary as hell (and smelly). Was within micro seconds of disappearing. Quick reflexes and shape of manhole gave me second life. Guys and gals -- be careful in life and remain safe. Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan [This is Mumbai, my love] and was close to taking my jaan [life].”
Mr. Arora had held on to the sides inside the manhole till chest level before he was pulled out. He lost his phone in the drain and sustained minor scratches for which he had to get an injection.
The BMC clarified the same day that the manhole was inside the premises of a society. Civic officials said the society undertook repair work through a private contractor, who had kept the manhole open. “We have already issued a warning to the private premises to not be negligent. We are proposing filing defamation cases against the concerned person and all those Twitter users. This is tarnishing the image of the BMC,” said Devendrakumar Jain, assistant municipal commissioner of G South ward. “If anyone had a problem, they should have come to us instead of criticising (us) publicly.” Mr. Arora appeared to have picked up the cue thereon. On Friday, after reports of the BMC’s proposed action surfaced, he tweeted, “This is to put on record that the BMC is the best municipal corporation in the world. We are all very proud of BMC. I hope all Mumbaikars will join me in applauding the services delivered by this very great organisation.”
Whether the BMC is convinced is yet to be seen.