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Mumbai: Just two days after a tree collapse killed an 11-year-old schoolboy in Chembur, a 55-year-old man, Aslam Isak Shaikh, died after falling into an open manhole at Sakinaka amid the ongoing wet spell in the city, prompting BMC commissioner Ashwini Bhide to order suspension of four civic officials.The incident occurred at around 11 am on Thursday when Shaikh, a daily wage labourer, was walking along Sakinaka’s Khairani Road. He was speaking on his mobile phone when he fell into the manhole. Civic officials said BMC-appointed labourers had been working at the spot to place a protective grill around the open manhole to ensure no one fell in it. As Shaikh approached the manhole, workers at the site reportedly shouted to alert him and tried to stop him, but he lost his balance and fell.The labourers appointed by the contractor for the work lowered a ladder into the manhole in an attempt to rescue Shaikh, but they could recover only his umbrella and slippers, civic officials said. The strong flow of water made it impossible to determine the direction in which he had been swept away. After the fire brigade arrived, rescue personnel wearing breathing apparatus entered the sewer line through a nearby circular manhole using a rescue tripod and rope ladder.
Shaikh was eventually pulled out and rushed by ambulance to Rajawadi Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.The four officials suspended by Bhide following the incident are Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner, L ward, Deepak Chougule, assistant/deputy engineer (maintenance) for the ward, Abhijit Chougule, junior engineer (maintenance) for the ward, and Uttam Patil, assistant engineer, sewerage operations department, under whose jurisdiction the manhole falls.While the BMC came in from flak from the opposition for poor monsoon-readiness and also from the governing BJP and Sena, who blamed the “administration,” and while the tragedy was also raised in the state assembly, Bhide, terming the incident a “serious failure of safety compliance”, said that the civic body has decided to lodge a police complaint against the contractor for failing to implement mandatory safety measures at the work site.
She also ordered that the contractor be blacklisted for negligence.Bhide said a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the additional municipal commissioner (western suburbs) to investigate the cause of the incident in detail and recommend measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur in Mumbai. The committee has been directed to submit its report within seven days.
A committee has been formed in the tree fall case as well with a deadline of one week for the report.Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde, who visited the site of the tragedy in Sakinaka, announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased on behalf of the civic corporation.However, deputy mayor Sanjay Ghadi of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is the alliance partner of the BJP (Tawde belongs to BJP) in the BMC, demanded the resignation of civic chief Bhide.
Referring to the death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, who had died after falling into an uncovered manhole during heavy rain in 2017, Ghadi said the municipal administration had failed to learn from past tragedies.As an immediate preventive measure, the BMC said, it has once again instructed all departments that barricades must be erected on all four sides of every manhole work site during maintenance or installation work.The civic commissioner has also directed all additional municipal commissioners, the deputy commissioners of all seven zones in the city, and assistant commissioners of all 26 administrative wards to ensure 100% inspection of all manholes across Mumbai within the next eight days, along with verification of their safety and submission of a compliance report.
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