Manhole covers in city pose safety risk for motorists

Rules to ensure that manhole covers are at the same level as that of the carriageway are rarely followed or find mention in the Corporation’s road re-laying contracts, says activist

When the present DMK government came to power in 2021, one of its initiatives that received wide appreciation from the public and civil society organisations was its order to ensure that milling was done before re-laying of roads.

While this move, to a large extent, has helped the road levels from unnecessarily going up during the re-laying process, another such problem that is in need of special focus is the uneven placement of manhole covers dotting the roads.

The underground drainage network in Chennai has around 1.35 lakh maintenance holes. Ideally, the manhole covers should be at the same level as the roads. However, a significant percentage are either protruding above the road by a few inches or lying a few inches below road level, posing a serious safety risk to motorists.

In some cases, though the covers are at the same level as the roads, the protective concrete or bitumen transition provided along the circumference of the covers have come off completely, thereby forming a pit between the road and the cover.

R. Vigneswaran, an autorickshaw driver from Mylapore, said the problem was ubiquitous across the city. “On the roads I frequent, I now know where such uneven spots are and avoid them. It is a problem for me on other roads, particularly when you are closely following another vehicle,” he said.

“You cannot see a pit or a protrusion in advance in such a situation. When you see one suddenly, you instinctively try to veer left or right to avoid it. This can result in accidents as the vehicles coming behind you would not be expecting you to turn suddenly like that,” Mr. Vigneswaran said.

A few police personnel from the traffic wing of the Greater Chennai Police acknowledged that accidents do happen because of the issue. “Apart from resulting in accidents, such uneven spots slowed down traffic, particularly if they are near junctions,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity. He added that one such pit at the Mount Road and Dams Road junction was recently filled with asphalt after they raised the issue.