Pits of hazard: Open and damaged manholes a threat to commuters in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The manholes, which are supposed to be access points for sewers and stormwater drains, seem to be posing a serious threat to road users across GHMC limits.
Just an hour’s drive to some parts of the city on Sunday revealed that there are several manholes which are either broken, under repair or raised to such a height that they could violently throw two-wheeler riders out of their seats.
“There is one open manhole right in the middle of the road in our colony. There have been several incidents where two-wheelers and cars get stuck in it. People have also suffered some serious injuries because of this problem,” said D Gangadhar, a resident of Bowenpally. “The situation gets worse during rains because the entire street gets flooded and you can hardly notice the open manhole,” he added.
The situation prevails despite GHMC suspending two engineers for dereliction of duty and slapping Rs 1 lakh in penalty on Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme agency after an open stormwater drain near Gandhi Hospital was found to pose a threat to human life. Following this incident, all the assistant engineers of GHMC were asked to go for rounds to inspect manholes every day and ensure that they are repaired and covered.
In another such case, residents claim that a broken cover of a manhole at Bhavani Nagar in Talabkatta has crying for attention from past six months. Sharing pictures of a toddler who suffered serious injuries after falling into the open manhole earlier this week, resident Mohammad Saleem said, “We have been requesting the authorities to close the manholes from past six months. The toddler who fell into the manhole suffered multiple fractures in her shoulder.”
Saleem also highlighted the issue on Twitter recently by tagging MAUD minister KT Rama Rao. Similar instances of broken and uncovered manholes were reported at SR Nagar, Ameerpet, Erragadda, Moti Nagar, Shalibanda, Aliabanda, Lal Darwaza, Santosh Nagar, Talabkatta, Bhavani Nagar, Himatpura, Khilwat, Kishan Bagh, Bahadurpura main road, Tadbund, Nawab Saab Kunta and Jamalikunta.
GHMC chief engineer M Devanand said, “During rains, if there is water stagnation somewhere, our teams working on the ground open the manhole covers to clear the stagnation, but they close it once the water recedes. However, despite taking all measures to ensure that the manholes are repaired and closed, there might be some deficiencies. In such cases, people can always send their grievance on MyGHMC app, and we will see that the problem is resolved.”