Open manholes inviting tragedy

Open manholes in the capital city are posing a threat to the lives of the residents, but the authorities concerned have turned a deaf ear towards the issue.
The residents of several areas have complained that the open manholes in the federal capital, especially on the main avenues, are causing a great inconvenience to them. They are of the view that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) bosses have turned a blind eye to the situation. Several manholes in sectors I-8 and I-9 have been without covers for the last few months, posing a serious threat to the lives of the residents. Open manholes can be witnessed in many other residential areas of the capital. Most of them are situated at the turning points of the roads and can cause a serious incident any time. A survey, conducted by Pakistan Today, reveals that there are a large number of uncovered manholes; some are even in the middle of the roads and a bad smell emanating from them keeps testing the nerves of passersby.
The residents told this scribe that the open manholes were posing a threat to commuters, especially at night. They added many people had fallen prey to the death traps. They further said some of the manholes had been covered by them on a self-help basis.
The residents also complained that these manholes were also injurious to health as they produced foul smell and were also providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes and bacteria. They had made several complaints to the authorities concerned in this regard, but nobody was ready to solve this problem, he said. “Leaving a manhole open is a serious lapse which shows a casual approach of the officials of the department concerned, so action must be initiated against them,” said Adnan Khan, a resident. He added they had placed some stones around the manholes to warn the commuters, but these were removed after some time. He lamented that the residents had urged the civic authorities repeatedly to cover the manholes to avoid any untoward incident, but nothing had been done so far in this regard. “Nobody is listening. Is the civic body waiting for some tragedy to happen?” he questioned.