It’s a Nightmare for Motorists near Bunts Hostel Road due to Manhole Mess

It’s a Nightmare for Motorists near Bunts Hostel Road due to Manhole Mess

Mangaluru: Even though we are proud to call Mangaluru City a “Smart City”, but unfortunately it seems like we don’t have “Smart Officials” to manage it. Just look at all the recently constructed roads in the city, they have all been dug once-twice-thrice or even more for Mescom work, Cable laying work- and now for replacing old manholes. But a simple question could be asked to our MCC Mayor, MCC Commissioner, other officials, and even PWD officials as to why proper planning was not done when the new road construction was undertaken, so that all these old manholes, or old cable wires would have been rectified/replaced- rather than digging the newly constructed roads. But no one is ready to give the answer, because they know it was their fault. People learn by past mistakes, but when it comes to our city officials, it’s just the other way.

Apart from overflowing of drainage water through these manholes, City has also sunken manholes. Is there a fix to car-jarring deep manhole covers? Why are manhole covers no longer level with the road surface? The roads are full of these cavernous holes caused by manholes being several inches or more below the road. The main reason is the overlaying of new blacktop without placing an extension or raising the crown and lid to the new street level. This happens  do to poor planing on the city or state when overlaying new streets. And none of the city officials care about it until these manholes show danger to motorists-then they decide to fix them. These repeatedly caved in manholes leave craters on the surface, creating endless hassle for road users and residents alike. Many a times our lovely authorities look for just temporary fixes rather than finding permanent solutions.

I being a vehicle owner like many of you know that feeling of driving over those in ground manholes that have sunk well below the road surface. If PWD or our Mangaluru City Corporation would plan better when resurfacing our roads, maybe they could avoid these occurrences- but that’s not happening at all. Having sinking manholes right in the middle of the roads is kind of hazardous for motorists. Some of the manholes constructed few years back are sinking than those which have been there during British time- so it’s poor planning and poor workmanship of the present contractors and labourers-the older ones have put the new kid on the block to shame.

Now coming to the real topic of this report is- yet another manhole mess is creating traffic chaos near the Bunts Hostel Road/Kadri road in the City, where a decades old manhole has been overflowing with dirty drainage/toilet water since a month- and the sad part is that when two-wheeler riders pass by this manhole, other ignorant four wheeler drivers splash this dirty overflowing water on the riders. And that stuff will stink when it lands on your pants? But two-two wheeler riders have been experiencing this “Stinky” situation for nearly a month, while no suitable action taken in fixing the manholes. Forget about the motorists, even the nearby businesses have to bear the stench, due to the stagnant water overflowing onto to the road.

Few weeks ago, while one of the sunken manhole replacement work was undertaken, a couple of days later, yet another manhole on the same stretch of the road started overflowing with stagnant drainage water. And due to the blockage of decades-old pipes due to waste, especially sanitary pads, paper towels, etc, with no proper flow of water, has resulted in this overflow. Proper planning should have been done by MCC before this new road was constructed by replacing these decades-old manholes, which can’t handle the heavy load of drainage water mixed with waste. Decades ago the surrounding area was not developed, but now you have a hotel, restaurants, even few colleges, new businesses- and image all the toilet/drainage water from these flowing down the narrow old manhole pipes.

Speaking to Team Mangalorean, the contractor handling the project said, ” We found way too many sanitary napkins/pads disposed off into chamber and the absorbent material from the pads had choked the flow of sewage. These decades old six-inch pipes designed to handle the wastewater of about seven-eight thousand population, but now with the increase of apartments and other businesses around here has led to the problem of pipes getting blocked, thus resulting in overflowing. In order to fix one bad manhole we had to open three. We are doing our best to fix these manholes at the earliest, post which these portions on the road will be concretized. It may take a week to complete the work”.

Labourer without footwear standing in the stagnant drainage water and doing his mud removing work

Yes, the labourers are working extra hours to fix this problem- but neither the contractor nor MCC has taken a serious issue of maintaining the safety and hygiene of these poor labourers. None of them are wearing safety gears or clothing. There was an older person without any footwear standing in the stagnant water inside this deep manhole, and that’s sad to note and utter negligence on the part of the concerned people to put this labourer in such hardship. {See photo} But, who cares? And that has been the attitude of our authorities in the past, and will continue in future.

So for a week, motorists have to wade through the congested road due the ongoing manholes work- and surely its a nightmare! But it should be possible to solve these sinking or overflowing manholes problems. In this e-age, when we have solutions for some of the toughest technological issues, if simple things like manholes from caving in or overflowing cannot be done, it can never be the fault of science or systems. The problem could be due to faulty design, poor planning and sub-standard execution of work or anything else. Something is seriously wrong with the way repairs are being handled which needs to be addressed. Instead of spending the few crores that have sanctioned already towards “Smart City” project on unwanted projects, the same money could be used to fix these manholes and also the many dilapidated/pot-holed roads that are currently existing in the City. Can somebody enlighten or awake the concerned MCC or PWD officials on these civic issues- Thank you and Have a Nice day?