Patna Municipal Corporation has a Herculean task ahead.
The high court on Monday set the civic body a deadline of October 13 to cover all open manholes in the city but it's easier said than done. Patna has a shade under 24,000 manholes, according to a report compiled till July, and 641 of them are damaged. Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials claim most of them have been repaired but that’s a statement refuted by both the ward councillors as well as residents.
Repair and maintenance of manholes are routine work and sufficient allocation is made every year in the municipal budget for it but open and damaged manholes remain ubiquitous in the city.
A visit to different localities such as Yarpur, Jakkanpur, Saristabad, Gardanibagh, Sri Krishna Nagar, Shastri Nagar and Punaichak revealed open manholes are an eyesore everywhere. What's worse, lack of markers makes them hard to spot and safety hazards. They also double up as breeding grounds of insects and germs, posing health concerns in the time of dengue.
The PMC officials claim to have repaired several damaged manholes and also prepared a report but elected representatives say it is an exaggeration.
“This report (compiled till July 2015) is completely false. If one goes by this report, it would mean that there are very few open manholes in the city. However, the situation on the ground is entirely different. In my ward, I had submitted a request to the officials six months ago to repair damaged manholes but no action has been taken yet,” said former deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu, the representative of ward number 28.
Kidwaipuri resident Amarendra Sinha said: “Open manholes are extremely risky, especially during the rains. Internal roads in many areas of the city are damaged and it becomes difficult to spot the open manholes in case of waterlogging. It is no use to expect from the PMC to repair the damaged manholes, when they cannot even cart away garbage properly.”
There are four administrative zones under the PMC - Bankipore, New Capital, Kankerbagh and Patna City. There are several manholes or uncovered ditches in each division - the lids are either left open after de-silting of drains, damaged or stolen.
Such a situation prevails despite consolidated funds to the tune of Rs 4.75 crore being sanctioned for monsoon preparedness work, including repair of manhole/catchpits and drainage cleaning, under the current fiscal.
Now, acting on the directives of Patna High Court, municipal commissioner Jai Singh has instructed officials to conduct a fresh survey of open or damaged manholes over the next two days.
“The report submitted during the hearing in the court on Monday was based on the manhole status till July. There is a need to conduct a fresh survey to identify the open manholes, so officials in all the four circles have been asked to submit the report within two days. The corresponding repair work would be completed before the stipulated deadline of October 13,” said Singh.
The high court took up the matter of open manholes after a public interest litigation was filed by one Jitendra Kumar Singh around a year ago. The petitioner had stated in his plea that there were many open manholes in the city and PMC officials were ignorant to them.
“We are not happy with the situation. The open manholes should be covered before puja starts to ensure that nobody in injured,” the division bench of acting Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh said during Monday’s hearing.
Open and damaged manholes have been a common cause of mishaps over the years. Last year on August 18, one Sonu Kumar died after falling into an open roadside drain in the Kankerbagh area. Two children were lost to manholes in 2011 because of the civic body’s negligence. Five-year-old Roshan Kumar died falling into one in the Bhootnath Road area on May 21, 2011 and three months later, a three-year-old girl died similarly in the Lohanipur area.
