Open manholes posing risk to commuters during rains

Lucknow: Despite Jal Sansthan claiming to have covered most manholes of the city before monsoons, almost every locality is complaining of broken or open manholes, posing a risk to commuters during rains. To add to the woes, even Jal Nigam is on a spree to create sewer chambers in many areas to give new connection to people. These dug up roads are mostly left open.
Earlier, many accidents have been reported where people have fell into these open manholes or were injured by tripping and falling.Recently, a bull fell inside the opening of a huge drain in Indiranagar and some time ago, two children fell inside an under-construction sewer opening near Picnic Spot road. But agencies have taken no cognizance of these incidents. While Jal Sansthan claims that it has covered most drains of the city and only those which are broken are left, Jal Nigam says it would cover manholes once the process of chamber laying is complete.
The chief secretary has often instructed local agencies to cover all open manholes of city and barricade those under construction so that people don't fall into the pits, but agencies like LMC, Jal Nigam and Jal Sansthan have often ignored the instructions.
One can still find many open and broken manholes posing risk to commuters during rains. Vijay Gupta, a resident of Indiranagar said, "In the new developing areas of Indiranagar, open sewer lines can be found everywhere, even at main crossings, roads and market places. These are very dangerous during rains as people can fall into them."
Residents living near Picnic Spot road also complain there are several holes on roads which are almost 25-feet deep, which can lead to accidents. Similar cases have been witnessed in Aliganj, Gomtinagar and Mahanagar too.