Twenty-five years after the death of a student, manhole in Ameerpet remains a threat

More than 25 years after a young man was killed after falling into a manhole near Sarathi Studios, the nightmare has returned to the Ameerpet area. Motorists now have to drive around the manhole that is bang in the middle of the road near metro pillar number C-1458. “It was always there and has become bigger after this monsoon. They repair and for a few months it is like a road then it reappears,” said an employee of the fuel station that now lines the road.

Twenty-five years earlier, on August 23, 2000 as there was a deluge that flooded Hyderabad, a young man lost his life in the same manhole. “An engineering student, Niranjan Krishna (18), who fell into a nala in Ameerpet when his mobike plunged into an open manhole… ” is how The Hindu reported about the accident that claimed the life of a young man.

Another English language newspaper reported that the student of M.J. College, Jubilee Hills was returning to his room after writing his exam when he slipped and fell near Sarathi Studios while negotiating the heavily water-logged road. The newspaper quoted a GHMC Additional Municipal Commissioner, West Zone, Ravindranath blaming a road divider for the death. The area has changed. The road has become broader, and is now lined with gigantic pillars of the Metro constructed in 2016 but the manhole still remains partially open.

Incidentally, the GHMC has issued a media notice on Friday about repairing 14,112 potholes in the city. But motorists in Ameerpet are still waiting.