Watch your step in Dwarka
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Watch your step in Dwarka

Open and partially covered manholes on footpaths in various sectors in the sub-city have become a hazard for residents. What are the DDA and SDMC doing?

Watch your step in Dwarka

Open manholes on footpaths in various Dwarka sectors have become a cause for concern for residents, as they have led to many accidents and are particularly dangerous to pedestrians. Uncovered manholes can be seen in sectors 2, 3, 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20. 

They are especially a hassle during peak hours, when residents walk on the streets to avoid the manholes, hampering the flow of traffic. Repeated complaints by the residents to put a lid on such manholes have fallen on deaf ears.

Some social activists have been raising the issue with civic agencies, and some manholes have been covered, but they say neither the DDA nor the SDMC is serious about the issue or the dangers it poses.

PC Xavier, a member of the managing committee of Sahyadri Apartments in Sector 12, says, “I regularly go for morning walks and have counted the number of open manholes that I find on my way. At one point of time, there were more than 500 manholes without covers in sectors 12 and 13. The DDA took up the issue when I wrote to them. Now, there are just a few open manholes uncovered in Sector 12, but in Sector 13, there are still many that can be seen.”

Some of the manholes are near public places such as bus stops, markets and schools. Anil Parashar, a resident of Sri Agrasen Apartments in Sector 7, and a member of the social group "Mission Safe and Clean Dwarka", says, “Covers of hundreds of manholes in Dwarka have been found missing, particularly in sectors 7, 6, 11, 12 and 13. The situation is especially bad around Sadhbhavana Park in Sector 13, and Agarsen Apartments and Brahma Apartments in Sector 7. Near the bus stand in front of Air Force and Naval Officers Enclave in Sector 7, there are many manholes either uncovered or partially covered on a 50-m stretch from the traffic signal. DDA should make sure such manholes are covered as soon as possible.”

“The issue will be taken into consideration and the manholes will be covered soon,” DP Singh, chief engineer, DDA (Dwarka), told City Spidey.

 

Anil Parashar, a member of the social group 'Mission Safe and Clean Dwarka', points at a partially covered manhole at the bus stop in front of Air Force and Naval Officers Enclave in Sector 7