The Man-Hole Project
The inspiration behind this project is Ajay. He has over the past few weeks religiously followed the creation and destruction of a man-hole in Andheri East.
So here is my contribution on the same.
This particular man-hole is located in the back lane of Shoppers Stop and Chandan cinema in Juhu. It has been in this pathetic state for the past couple of months. Since the traffic flow is less here, its breaking-up process has been a little slow. In a busy and populated street this surely wouldn’t have lasted so long.
Maintenance of Man-holes in Mumbai city has always been a matter of concern for the local public and the authorities. This very problem gets high-lighted only during the rainy season or when someone actually lands up getting injured and at times loosing their life.
Manhole covers are frequently stolen, most often by drug or by residents from near-by slums. The temporary covers made of substandard concrete slabs are casually placed over the holes. Sometimes, when even slabs are not available, a bamboo stick or a branch is stuck into the manhole to alert pedestrians and vehicles.
Surely the authorities are very much aware of the crisis but as usual they turn a blind eye towards.
With the monsoon approaching the problem would only become more severe and dangerous for many pedestrians. This is the right time to take appropriate and fast action in response to the Man-hole crisis at hand.
If you have experienced or have heard similar story or incident, kindly do let us know. Maybe a little effort from you end, could help us make Mumbai, some-what better and safer city to live-in.
Man-Hole accidents - Real stories
Pragni, member of the Mumbai Metroblog has written about her ordeal, here.
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Sakshi, if you’ll remember, my first blog here was abt manholes. Thats coz, at that time, I had recently been prey to an open one. I had tumbled right into an open manhole in an unlit street in the night, at oshiwara. I have a full written account of it on my blog. It had been a traumatic recovery, and since then i have heard of a lot of other people who have also had similar experiences. I also tried to find out where I can complain in the BMC, but as usual it came to naught. Let’s hope, tihs leads somewhere.
Hey Sakshi,
Great to see you tracking the manholes as well. I was kinda bored of tracking that manhole with everyday stories, because it still is in a mess.
Will do a weekly one, because I know they won’t change.
BTW, how do I contact Arzan?
Heya Sakshi,
I actually told Ajay to quit doing this story as all I was seeing on his blog were pics of manholes (manhole day 1, manhole day 2, manhole day 11, you get the pic)
Knowing our system, we’ll be indefinetely putting up pics of unattended manholes. There must be a better way to deal with this problem.
Ajay, you can reach Arzan’s at http://wadias.in/site/arzan/blog/