A 55-year-old man died after falling into an open manhole in Mumbai’s Saki Naka on Thursday while civic workers were installing a protective grill around it, exposing glaring lapses in safety measures during the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s monsoon preparedness drive. CCTV footage showed the worksite had no barricades or warning signs, prompting Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide to suspend four officials, order the blacklisting of the contractor and institute a high-level inquiry.
The incident took place around 10.30 am when BMC-appointed labourers were installing protective grills at a manhole portal on Khairani Road. Following the mishap, Mumbai’s municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide suspended four civic officials, including an assistant municipal commissioner.
The victim, Aslam Esaf Shaikh, was a resident of Saki Naka’s Yadav Nagar area. He was returning home from his workplace at Saki Naka when he slipped into the manhole. CCTV videos of a nearby hotel showed that while the civic workers were carrying out the work, no barriers were installed at the worksite — a violation of the civic body’s safety norms.
“The victim was walking on the road, while he was speaking on his phone. Our workers warned him stating that there is work going on. But he didn’t listen to us and went ahead, falling into the manhole,” a civic official said on the condition of anonymity.
Following this, the site workers lowered a ladder to trace the victim; however, the body couldn’t be traced immediately owing to the heavy water current. Shaikh’s body was later recovered from a stormwater drain outfall near SJ studio at Saki Naka around 1 pm following which the first responders transferred it to Rajawadi hospital where he was declared dead. The outfall was 1 km away from the manhole pit where Shaikh fell.
Shaikh is survived by his son, Ali Akbar (21), wife Anjum (50) and elder daughter Shabnam (24). Shaikh was the sole breadearner of the family and the incident left the entire family in a state of distraught.
Thursday’s incident is the second death reported in Mumbai within a 48-hour period. Earlier on Tuesday (June 30) at Mumbai’s Chembur, an 11 year old boy, Vihan Srivastava, lost his life after a tree collapsed on a school bus in which he was travelling.
The incident also came a month after Bhide chaired a meeting where she directed all ward officials to install protective grills on manholes and open drains in Mumbai on a priority basis as part of Mumbai’s pre-monsoon preparedness. This meeting was chaired on May 20 and the BMC’s deadline for finishing its pre-monsoon works stands at May 31.
Meanwhile, within hours after the incident, Bhide suspended four officials from Mumbai’s L ward which is responsible for the local administration of Andheri East (Saki Naka) and Chandivali areas. The suspended officials include assistant municipal commissioner Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant engineer (sewerage operations) Uttam Patil, junior engineer (maintenance) Abhijit Chougule and assistant sub Engineer (maintenance) Deepak Chougule.
Furthermore, Bhide has also directed officials to blacklist the contractor which was executing the job.
Issuing a statement the civic administration said that preliminary findings indicate that the contractor had not put in place adequate safety measures or barricades around the work site.
“The civic administration has constituted a high-level inquiry committee headed by the Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) to investigate the circumstances leading to the incident and recommend measures to prevent similar accidents. The committee, which also includes the deputy commissioners of General Administration, Zone VII and Infrastructure, has been directed to submit its report within seven days,” a civic body’s statement read.
Earlier on Wednesday, the BMC had also suspended three officers following the Chembur tree collapse incident.
Political reactions
Thursday’s incident triggered a slew of political reactions. Mumbai’s Mayor Ritu Tawde who visited the site announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the victim’s next of kin.
Posting on his social media account on X, Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora said, “Another life lost. Another preventable tragedy. How many more Mumbaikars must die before basic civic safety becomes a priority? Open manholes are not “accidents”, they are the result of negligence, failed systems & a lack of accountability.The Bombay High Court has repeatedly pulled up @mybmc over the recurring menace of open manholes & unsafe roads. Yet these entirely avoidable tragedies continue. Mumbai deserves answers,”
Samajwadi Party legislator, Rais Shaikh also criticised the ruling Mahayuti regime in the BMC stating that Mumbai’s Mayor misplaced the civic body’s priorities and should apologise to Mumbaikars.
Similar case at Dahisar
In another incident on Thursday, a 48 year old man accidentally fell into a drain at Mumbai’s Dahisar area. However, the victim narrowly escaped death as he was immediately rescued by first responders.
Open manholes have remained a recurring hazard during Mumbai’s monsoon. Flooded roads often make them impossible to spot, turning them into a serious risk for pedestrians and motorists.
The issue has repeatedly come before the Bombay High Court. Hearing a petition in 2022, the court described open manholes as “death traps” and warned that civic officials could be held personally responsible if anyone died after falling into one. It also asked the BMC to come up with permanent solutions, including protective grills and technology to immediately detect missing or tampered manhole covers.
Spot picture of the manhole. Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee. 
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