Negligence on the part of the Municipal Corporation led to one of its official’s car falling into a pit, dug as part of the road expansion, at Pinnamaneni Polyclinic Road here on Thursday. The road was heavily waterlogged following rains owing to depression in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday night. Work is in progress on the low-lying road which gets submerged after even the slightest of rains.
A two-foot deep pit was dug from the edge of the road right till the defunct drain for the purpose of widening. Since no boulders or indicators have been put to mark the beginning of the pit, unwary motors drove into it with disastrous consequences. Over half-a-dozen cars and a good number of motorcycles fell into the pit on the rainy Thursday morning. Fortunately none of the commuters was injured.
A lorry heading towards a construction site capsized late on Wednesday. The poor drainage system in the neighbourhood yet again caused severe discomfort to the motorists who appeared more cautious while driving their vehicles on the water-filled stretch.
One of the cars trapped in the pit near the Municipal Employees Colony was a Tata Indica, which as per the number plate, belonged to the VMC.
“We were thinking of calling up the corporation helpline (103) but dropped the idea after one of us identified the number plate. The driver tactfully removed the corporation label fixed on the car and called for a crane,” said Rajesh a bystander.
“It happened when the car driver was taking a U-turn to reach the Municipal Employees Colony,” he added. It took about three hours to remove the VMC car from the pit which caused traffic congestion.
A bigger hydraulic crane had to be used to lift the lorry and other cars. Officials woke up to the situation in the evening and placed stones and branches of trees on the edge of the pit cautioning the motorists about the danger.
“This stop-gap arrangement is of no use. In darkness they are not visible. The officials could have prepared the proper caution board to avoid mishaps,” felt Mr. L. Vasanta Rao, a shopkeeper.
Over half-a-dozen cars, including one of the civic body, fell into waterlogged pits
