In Hyderabad, an uncovered manhole led to a frightening incident when a five-year-old girl fell into it on Thursday in Rein Bazar, Old City. Fortunately, the lack of water flow in the manhole allowed her to be rescued safely. This mishap sparked a dispute among the GHMC, HYDRAA, and the Water Board over who was responsible.
The entire event was recorded by CCTV cameras. The footage shows the girl accidentally slipping into the open manhole in the Maula ka Chilla area while heading to school.
After the incident, the girl’s family and local residents expressed their anger towards GHMC officials. They emphasized that the timely rescue prevented a potential tragedy. The community demanded that negligent staff face consequences and urged immediate closure of all open manholes to avoid future accidents.
Mohammed Ahmed, a local resident, criticized the officials for their carelessness, which resulted in the girl getting injured. He insisted on immediate accountability for those responsible. In response, senior officers from GHMC’s Charminar zone visited the child’s home to check on her condition.
A GHMC officer explained that a HYDRAA team had opened the manhole cover for desilting on Wednesday but left the site without replacing it. The civic body alerted HYDRAA about the oversight and requested preventive measures. Meanwhile, HYDRAA denied any negligence on their part, stating they are reviewing CCTV footage from Wednesday. They plan to meet with local HYDRAA, Water Board, and GHMC teams on Friday.
Initial investigations indicate that after using a jetting machine for desilting, Water Board staff neglected to cover the manhole. The second shift maintenance team noticed this on Wednesday evening and attempted to address it, but locals stopped them, claiming the work was incomplete. HYDRAA reported the incident on Thursday.
