Dig ditches but ensure safety, Bombay high court tells BMC

The Bombay high court on Friday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take adequate measures and personally supervise all the projects that involve digging of trenches in the city, which are unmanned and possible death traps for citizens.

The division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and RV More said, “The BMC should be careful and barricades should be put up to avoid any mishaps.” The court passed this direction while hearing a public interest litigation filed by a retired business man, Indur Chhugani seeking criminal action against officers of the BMC and contractors who dig up roads and leave open trenches that could prove fatal.

The petition was filed after on January 5 after Marriamma Naidu, 60, fell in a pit dug up by the corporation for storm water drain repair and died. The pit was dug by civic contractors to replace the underground Storm Water Drain line in Wadala.

The PIL states that on various roads in the city, trenches are dug up by the BMC and various other authorities for different purposes. The corporation fails to effectively supervise these works and there is no follow up. Sometimes action is taken against worker of the contractor, but the BMC engineers, who are primarily responsible for these deaths, escape with no action against them. So they continue to do such negligent acts which are criminal in nature.

The civil contractors who were undertaking the repairs also increased the compensation to be given to the heirs of the deceased to Rs1 lakh, which they have to deposit in the court registry.

The high court also informed the petitioners that the actual cause of Naidu’s death could not be ascertained and the petitioners could take further the recourse of appropriate options under the law to prove their case.