Need swift resolution of open holes on roads

The car wheel sank into the open manhole

A car driver experienced a sinking feeling literally over the weekend. The driver saw the front wheel of his car get stuck in an open stormwater drain as he was parking the vehicle near a Metro station at Borivli.

The front wheel of his car was mired in the open space which was invisible in fading light. The individual had to call in a towing van to lift his car out of the crater and then, he could take it home.

For whatever reason it may be open, for work or because of another necessity, it is shocking that a yawning cavity is open without warning or indicators. This, too, not tucked away in a bylane or a little gully, though that should not be allowed as well, but this one on a high-density road near a Metro station.

This time, it was highly fortunate that the wheel of a car went into the cavity. What if a person had fallen in? They would have sustained injuries for sure, besides being totally unnerved by that experience.

There have been so many humongous tragedies in the city, where persons have fallen into manholes, open craters, open drains, cavities where the lid has been removed. Old gutter covers that may have become flimsy or rusty from overuse. The list goes on. We have lost people to this negligence, whatever the reason for that.

This though was not as dire, but it is an alert that we need warning signage or a complete cordoning off of that part, if it cannot be immediately closed.

We need a barricade or flags around it and lights at night to signal that this is potentially dangerous. Let those responsible be extremely quick in identifying this and working on setting this right, without frittering away time in passing the buck.