WASA, DCCs and Titas responsible:Daily Sun

 There are more than one thousand death traps in the capital in the name of manholes and people walking through them may face the risk of their life anytime. The matter has come to the fore after a minor boy named Jihad fell prey to such a death trap that has shaken the conscience of the people across the country. Jihad met with his tragic end of life after he had slipped into a deep and narrow ir
on pipe used for water supply in Shahajahanpur railway colony in the capital. People may be caught in death traps anytime as there are numerous deep and shallow wells in the capital under Dhaka WASA, two city corporations and Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company. A large number of wells and manholes have remained open for months, but the authorities concerned appear to have turned a blind eye to the matter. WASA always denied taking responsibility for any incident. Each time the liability goes to the city corporation. WASA sat idle during the tragic death of jihad. Local people claimed that rescue operation was sagged after WASA Managing Director (MD) Taqsem A Khan visited the scene with police escort on Friday night. WASA men also left the scene immediately after the MD’s departure, claimed local people. Nowadays, people do not get surprised even after hearing the screams of children from a deep well and this is a common scene during any such incident in the capital. Roads, lanes and by-lanes have turned into death traps, particularly in rainy season. Besides, digging work of WASA and TITAS creates numerous holes and after completion of the work, most of the holes are not properly filled up. Surprisingly, WASA repair work and work to set up new pipe line goes on round the year. Besides, numerous manholes lie open for long period posing threat to pedestrians. Accidents frequently take place due to open manholes. According to sources at DCC Engineering Department, there are some 15 thousand manholes in the capital.