Uncovered death traps

Open manholes in major roads and alleys pose danger to pedestrians and vehicles as well. PHOTO: Syed Zakir Hossain

In places where the water level is high enough to travel by boat, the danger is minimal. But it is very risky in areas where motorised vehicles and especially rickshaws are moving in knee-deep water. There have been incidents where the tyres or wheels have fallen awkwardly into a gaping manhole and turned the vehicle off-balance causing injury to the people on board.

Even when there is no flood, the uncovered manholes remain a constant cause for concern. On June 23 this year, a street urchin in Arambagh fell into one such manhole and died. His elder brother jumped after him only for his dead body to be retrieved later by fire brigade personnel. The first boy was never found as he was washed away.

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Uncovered manholes are more prevalent in the old part of the city. Roads in Lalbagh, Nawabpur, Chawkbazar, Moulvibazar, Begumbazar, Mitford, Islampur, Patuatuli, Sadarghat, Bangshal, Sikkatuli, Nimtali, Aga Sadek Lane and Jimkhana are petered with holes without covers. Open manholes can also be spotted in major roads and alleys all around the capital.

In most cases, thieves and drug addicts who sell it to scrape metal traders, steal the iron tops of manholes in the dead of night. With the increase in the number of drug users over last few years, stealing of manhole covers has also seen a rise.

"Drug addicts will sell a manhole top for a very small sum of money. A cover costs us around Tk 2,000. Thieves sell it for about Tk 200," said S.D.M. Kamrul Alam Chowdhury, superintendent engineer of drainage circle of Dhaka Water and Sewage Authority (Dhaka WASA).

"WASA has around 1,200 manholes in its 240-kilometer long drainage line in the city. A manhole exists in every 20 metres. But their covers are often stolen and sometimes we find it difficult to replace them as the lids are not always readily available," Alam added.

Sewage section of Dhaka WASA has nearly 42,000 manholes with each of its six zonal areas having around 7,000.

"Manholes remain uncovered sometimes as the metal lids are stolen. But we try to replace them as early as possible. A large number of manholes belong to the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) but people think WASA is responsible for them," claimed Syed Kamrul Ahsan, superintendent engineer of sewage section of WASA. He cited Shantibagh as an example where there are some 42 uncovered manholes of the DCC.

DCC authorities said that there were no specific departments to look after manholes but every zonal office supervises roads and alleys and manholes in their respective areas.

Abul Hasnat, executive engineer of DCC zone six said they regularly monitor the area to see the conditions of the roads and the manholes. He however admitted that it becomes hard for them to replace the missing and damaged manhole covers due to fund shortage.

"The zonal offices get only Tk three or four lakhs annually for all sorts of maintenance," he said.

WASA officials said the manhole covers, which are made of cast iron, had resale value and that is why thieves steal them.

"They even steal the iron rods inside the RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) covers," said one of the officials.

WASA is now planning to make covers with 'Ducktile cast iron' which does not have any resale value. The superintendent engineer of sewage section said they have already made sperodised carbon cover for 18 manholes as part of a pilot project.

"If it provides a solution to the stealing, then we could introduce it on a larger scale," said Kamrul Ahsan. He also informed that such manhole covers would cost more but they would go for it considering the safety of the residents.