If compliance not done, be ready to face ire, Bombay HC gives week to BMC to cover 300 manholes – India Today

The Bombay High Court has given the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) a week to cover 300 manholes, emphasising that if compliance is not done, then the corporation should be ready to face the court’s ire.

The Bombay High Court emphasised that if compliance is not done, then the corporation should be ready to face the court’s ire.

By Vidya : Coming down on the authorities for open manholes by a roadside in Mumbai and neighbouring municipal corporations, the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Abhay Ahuja said, “These are all death traps. One may not die, but people may fracture themselves.”

The Bombay High Court heard a contempt petition against the authorities over pothole-ridden roads.

However, since the end of the monsoon, the issue of open manholes has cropped up, which poses an equal life threat to citizens.

Advocate petitioner Ruju Thakkar pointed out that there are above 300 open manholes along the service road of Eastern Express Highway on both sides.

She said that even though umpteen complaints have been lodged with the authorities, not a single manhole has been covered. Thakkar relied on some media reports to back her submission.

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At hearing Thakkar’s submission, Chief Justice Datta asked advocate Anil Sakhare, appearing for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), if the claim of 300 open manholes was true.

While Sakhare assured the court that the authorities would check on the issue, the bench told the BMC that they want a compliance report about all the 300 open manholes being covered by November 28.

The bench emphasised that if compliance is not done, then the corporation should be ready to face the court’s ire.

The court reminded the Corporation that it had given a list of the 20 worst roads in Mumbai and that the potholes on those roads needed to be eradicated.

Thakkar told the bench that the deadline for the same expires on December 1. Sakhare said that the process for the same was underway.

The bench mentioned that they had read in media reports that tenders for the concretisation of roads in Mumbai were floated, but the process could not be completed.

Meanwhile, Advocate Swati Sagwekar appearing for the Vasai Virar Corporation, said that there are only a few manholes that are open in their area, and they are less than three feet deep. At this, Chief Justice Dipankar Datta remarked, “so three feet open manholes are not death traps?”

The court will be further hearing the issue on December 1.

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