THE New Nation on Sunday ran a report on how open manholes on various city roads have become virtual death traps for the pedestrians who use the city roads on daily basis. Civic bodies seem to hardly take any notice of their grave discomfort according to city dwellers and it appears that a few hundred manholes have remained open on various roads in the capital for years, posing serious threat to public particularly for those who walk down the roads.
The report also showed that most manholes that remained without covers were under the jurisdiction of Dhaka North and South City Corporations, and Dhaka WASA. Even though local people filed numerous complaints with the concerned authority, those went all in vain. According to the report, manholes lie exposed after the sewerage workers remove their covers to clean up the drains. City dwellers showed their dissatisfaction by saying that they pay tax regularly but in return, they are provided with death risks only. Officials of the concerned authorities, on the other hand, claimed that they covered all manholes, but drug addicts and miscreants stole them for meeting drug costs. What a good way to shift responsibilities on to others!
The nation has barely overcome the tragic death of 4-year old Jihad who fell in an uncovered deep pipe, belonging to the Railways. The subsequent haphazard rescue attempts and the reactions of inefficient public office-holders goes to show how inept the ruling public authorities are. Day in and day out, uncovered manholes all over Dhaka city pose a dangerous risk to the health and lives of pedestrians. Flimsy excuses of drug addicts and miscreants stealing manhole lids are not enough to shrug off the responsibility of maintaining the streets and roads of Dhaka City. Apparently, the Dhaka City Corporation was divided into two different North and South zones (that too not democratically) to ensure better efficiency and division of labour. Reality shows otherwise as officials of both DCCs are mostly unavailable to cater to the needs of the capital’s inhabitants. This shows their ineptness as well as the blatant unaccountability they enjoy due to inefficiency by the government.
Surprisingly, the police – the home guard – remain nonchalant about the watch and ward of public properties for reasons best known to the authorities. It is the obligatory duty of the state to give protection to public properties but the government apparatus simply proved their utter irresponsibilities and ineptness in doing the duties.
We do not want amazing streets lined with crystal borders, adorned with fancy imported plants. We want necessary manholes to have lids on them every time a person/car passes it so that health and safety standards can be maintained and lives (and property) are not put unnecessarily in risk. It is not too much to ask for from a government and two DCCs that guard the city roads properly or else why should the tax-payers bear the cost of maintaining them unnecessarily.
