A 55-year-old man died on Thursday after falling into an open manhole in Mumbai’s Sakinaka area as heavy rains continued to lash the city.
The man, identified as Aslam Esaf Shaikh, fell into the manhole during drain maintenance work, reported The Times of India.
This is the third rain-related death in Mumbai this week. On Tuesday, an 11-year-old student was killed after a peepal tree got uprooted amid the rains and fell on a school bus. A day later, a 51-year-old man died after a portion of a building collapsed in the Walkeshwar area.
On Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation stated that Shaikh was pulled out of the manhole by firemen and sent to the Rajawadi Hospital. The doctors declared him brought dead.
Ashwini Bhide, the commissioner of the civic body, suspended four officials and initiated an inquiry, according to The Times of India.
Those against whom action has been taken are Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner of L Ward, Deepak Chougule, assistant/deputy engineer (maintenance) of the ward, Abhijit Chougule, junior engineer (maintenance) of the ward and Uttam Patil, assistant engineer in the Sewerage Operations Department.
The civic corporation has also instructed all departments to erect barricades on all sides of a manhole during maintenance work, reported The Times of India.
Bhide has also instructed all 26 administrative wards to ensure that all manholes in the city are inspected in the next eight days and to submit a compliance report.
This came as the India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for the city, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall during the day. In the last 24 hours, several areas in Mumbai reported 200 mm of rainfall.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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