Open manholes: Death traps on city roads

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Aug 14: Open manhole on various roads in the city has become death traps and is posing serious threat to commuters’ lives daily.

Shopkeepers and residents from various localities lamented that though they had informed the local Municipal staff several times about the open manholes in several parts of the city with plea to cover them, nothing is being done to repair them.

"Open manholes lead to an accidents as they are mostly situated exactly in the middle of the roads. There is always huge vehicular traffic, besides, a large number of schoolchildren use road everyday while going to their schools”, said Kartar Chand Bhagat, Kachi Chawni.

In most of the cases, contractors who are awarded the work of putting cemented or iron covers on the manholes use substandard material while making these, which is main reason for their short life. Though the concerned authorities get lot of money to construct drains but they kept the manholes uncapped which cause serious problems.

“It seems the authorities are always waiting for a tragedy to happen, so that to close the lids over these manholes. There have been several incidents when two wheeler drivers have been injured after falling in them,” said, Suresh Bushan, a shopkeeper near, Science college road.

The uncovered manholes have also caused problems for vehicles that often get stuck in them. At Patoli-Paloura road, there are many potholes created by the broken lids, which are still uncovered.

“There’s hardly a road in the city where one doesn’t find uncovered manholes. From the city centre Parade ground to Talab Tillo there are plenty of them”, said Sunil Kumar, resident of Resham Ghar colony.