Mumbai: Nearly three months after the death of Aslam Isak Shaikh, who fell into an open manhole on Khairani Road in Sakinaka on July 2 amid a wet spell, the BMC’s high-level inquiry committee has recommended a vigilance probe into officials involved in the work of installing nets on sewage-channel manholes since 2024.The inquiry report was submitted to municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide on Sept 19. The panel has recommended that the Drainage/Sewerage Assistant, Junior Engineer, Sub-Engineer, Assistant Engineer and other officials involved in the work since 2024 be investigated in detail by Chief Engineer (Vigilance).The committee has also recommended recording the statement of contractor New Tech Infra to ascertain from whom instructions were received to carry out work on the manhole at the incident site. It has proposed a further investigation be conducted by Chief Engineer (Vigilance) into this aspect.The panel has held the contractor responsible for the incident and recommended that the ongoing process of blacklisting New Tech Infra through L ward Assistant Commissioner be completed.The report, however, hasn’t been able to establish a crucial aspect and that is who was responsible for opening the manhole in which Shaikh fell.The report states that Dhanaji Herlekar, the then Assistant Commissioner, L ward, was not directly responsible for the incident, though a supervisory error was observed on his part.The incident had triggered public outrage, following which BMC suspended four officials concerned, initiated action against the contractor and ordered a high-level inquiry with a report expected to be submitted in seven days.The committee has recommended several measures to prevent such incidents. “Contractors will have to inform the concerned BMC department before opening any sewer or storm-water drain manhole. The information will have to include the exact location, timing, names of workers and a list of safety equipment being used.“An SOP should also be put in place requiring contractors to inform BMC control room through written or digital communication 10 minutes before opening a manhole and immediately after its closure,” states the report.The panel has further recommended that contractors take geo-tagged and time-stamped photographs before opening a manhole and after closing it, and send these to the concerned municipal engineers.The concerned Junior Engineer, Sub-Engineer or Assistant Engineer will have to visit ongoing manhole works, verify the safety inspection checklist and take necessary action, besides submitting reports to senior officers. The committee has called for zero tolerance for violations of the SOP and strict action against those concerned.The report also has stated that the Executive Engineer, L ward, had registered a complaint at Sakinaka police station on July 3. However, despite two communications, information regarding the police investigation or action taken had not been received by BMC. Deputy Commissioner, Zone V, has been asked to follow up with the police.
