Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government is very serious about preventing accidents caused by open manholes and ducts. The government has issued SOPs to prevent such incidents in the bodies and has instructed all the bodies to take effective steps. Also, all the District Magistrates have been directed to take immediate action to cover the open manholes and ducts by forming a technical committee at the body level.
This SOP has been issued to all the District Magistrates by the Directorate of Local Bodies under top priority and has been asked to take necessary steps. It is noteworthy that on 23 April 2024, a child died after falling into open manholes in Jankipuram Extension Sector 10, Lucknow. In view of such incidents, the government has expressed concern and has given instructions to take serious measures for this.
Committees will inspect weekly
Director of Local Bodies Directorate, Nitin Bansal said that as per the SOP issued, for prompt disposal of complaints related to open manholes and ducts, a technical committee will be constituted by the Municipal Commissioner at the Municipal Corporation level under the chairmanship of the Zonal Officer in each zone. In this committee, Assistant Engineer / Junior Engineer Jalkal will be the Member-Secretary, while the Zonal Secretary Officer will be the member. Along with this, a technical committee will be constituted by the District Magistrate at the Municipal Council / Nagar Panchayat level, whose chairman will be the local body in charge, while the Executive Officer will be the Member Secretary and Assistant Engineer / Junior Engineer will be the member.
The sewer system will be inspected weekly by these committees and if manholes or ducts are found open during inspection, then action will be taken to cover the manholes and ducts within a maximum of 24 hours. Till the time the manholes are not covered by the technical committee, a personnel will be deployed there with a red flag, so that the general public can be prevented from falling into the manholes.
Common people will also be able to complain about open manholes
Nitin Bansal said that the local body will provide a complaint redressal system/helpline number to receive complaints from the public about open manholes and it will be widely publicized. He said that the Government of India’s helpline number for such problems is 14420, while the Rajasthan government’s helpline number is 1533. On dialing this, the call will be received in the local district, where the complaint can be made. Not only this, the technical committee will also make arrangements to receive information from the councilors regarding open manholes in their wards. The committee will resolve the complaints of open manholes received from the sanitation workers, sanitation supervisors, common people, councilors and other sources within a maximum of 24 hours. After the complaint is resolved, if any untoward accident occurs due to open manholes, then strict disciplinary action will be taken against the committee.
Highlights of SOP…
To avoid any untoward accident during regular cleaning of open or damaged manholes and manholes, compliance of these points will be ensured…
▪️Corrosion of manhole cover occurs due to traffic on the upper surface and due to gases generated from the sewer on the lower surface, which should be assessed by opening the manhole cover at regular intervals and its physical condition should be assessed and the manhole cover should be replaced as per requirement.
▪️At the time of construction of manholes, it should be ensured that foot steps are installed in the manholes as per the standard, so that in case of an accident, if someone falls into the manhole, rescue action can be done easily through these foot steps.
▪️Where sewer line of more than 600 mm diameter has been laid, meshed (perforated) manhole cover should be used, so that the gas generated in the manholes keeps coming out and the surface of the manhole cover does not erode due to gas.
▪️Sewer cleaning work should be done at a time when the amount of sewer in the sewer line is minimum.
▪️Before sewer cleaning, the work site should be completely barricaded and a board stating sewer work is in progress must be put up and it should be ensured that the general public does not come near it out of curiosity.
▪️Immediately after sewer cleaning, necessary action should be taken to cover the manholes within a maximum of 12 hours. For this, sufficient quantity of manhole covers should be stored. If manhole covers are not available for any reason, then dummy covers with BRC welded fabric or wire net can be used to cover the manholes immediately.
▪️To protect vehicles from accidents, bushes, information boards and lights and light reflectors should be used at night.
▪️During sewer cleaning, the use of equipment producing smoking or sparks inside manholes or around open manholes should be prohibited.
▪️Mapping of the sewerage system should be done so that the complaint area can be identified and the work can be completed as quickly as possible to resolve the complaints of open manholes and ducts. Necessary help can be provided by the body in case of any emergency.
