HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board has identified about 5,000 and odd manholes in the twin cities that are found to be dangerous and has embarked upon the task to fix safety iron grills in them to ensure people do not get washed away even if they fall into them accidentally.

The grills will be fixed one feet inside the manhole. Even if the manhole covers are lifted, which is normally the case in the twin cities with unsuspecting residents lifting them to let floodwater go from streets, the grills will stop people from drowning. The manholes at several places are a blinding 25 feet deep and potential death zones.

Cement manholes

Evidently, the little cement manholes trampled upon by vehicles and pedestrians alike everyday are deceptively dangerous and run really deep. Trunk sewers in about 20 prime localities like Himayatnagar, Tilaknagar, Ramkoti, Kacheguda, Golnaka, RTC X Roads in Hyderabad or Picket, Nallagutta, Ranigunj and Kalasiguda in Secunderabad are located as deep as 25 feet.

Sewer lines

On an average, the sewer lines are located 10 feet beneath at various places in the twin cities. The entire sewer water of the city is let into these trunk sewers and it swirls and hurtles at great speed towards the Amberpet sewerage treatment plant and from there let into the Musi.

With grave danger lurking down below, people's callousness and ignorance about manholes comes as a real shocker as was the case last monsoon at Golnaka when a local resident naively opened the manhole cover to flush out the floodwater on the main road. An unsuspecting couple from Vanasthalipuram rode through the flooded street and a woman bank employee, riding on the pillion, fell into the open manhole and perished.

Days later, a young boy playing in the rain also got swept away in a similar way when he slipped and fell into the open manhole in Kavadiguda.

The crumbling archaic sewer network of the city runs for about 3000-sq. km length and every sq. km has at least 10 to 20 manholes. "Manholes built during the Nizam's era were made of cast iron and weighed nothing less than 25 to 30 kg. With thieves setting their eyes on them these were replaced by cement ones, which were a pale shadow when compared to the cast iron covers. Breakage is a common problem with heavy trucks plying over them," an official explained.

With safety iron grills, officials affirm at least lives will be saved if not the manhole covers.

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