Mumbai:
Twelve year-old Rudra Parikh is nursing a bruised lip that won't let him eat anything hot or spicy, and multiple cuts on his torso. Last week, the Kandivali East resident was walking on a footpath near Growel's Mall in the suburb, when he missed a step and fell straight into a six feet deep manhole.
Parikh had alighted from his school bus, and just as he was fumbling to open his umbrella to shield him from a sudden downpour, he slipped into a manhole nearby. Parikh's father was waiting at the mall across the road to pick up his son.
The boy was lucky to have come away with only a few injuries, and was trapped down there for just over a minute when pedestrians who witnessed the accident, hauled him out after a struggle. "I screamed for help. It was scary down there. I was helped out by two ladies and a gentleman, and was made to sit by the roadside for a while to overcome the shock," says the standard 8 student.
His mother, Dr Parul Parikh, says it took her son a couple of days to overcome the shock, and the family tries not to broach the topic since it leaves him shaken. Parikh approached the Samata Nagar police station. Officials there assured her of forwarding her complaint to The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
In a move typical of the civic body, the manhole continues to lie open, with just a wooden crate and a sheet of tarpaulin to draw the attention of pedestrians.
"I have called the BMC every day since the incident occurred. All I get are empty promises. No repair work has been carried out yet," says Parikh.
Assistant officer, R South ward, Sanjog Kabre, when contacted, said, "That entire stretch falls under the jurisdiction of the PWD (Public Works Department). We will forward the complaint to them, and look into the matter so that such accidents are avoided in future."