Missing lid on culvert led to woman’s death in Andheri's Seepz, finds BMC probe

Vimal Gaikwad, 45, died after falling into a stormwater drain in Mumbai due to a missing cover. A committee is investigating the incident

MUMBAI: 45-year-old Vimal Gaikwad died in Seepz in Andheri East on Wednesday after she fell into a roadside stormwater drain (SWD) through an opening in the cross culvert, commonly known as ‘dhapa’. The fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) lid on the opening had come off, most likely due to heavy rainfall and flooding, and Gaikwad was swept away almost 50 feet after falling into it due to the intensity of water flow, a source in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told HT. The report of the three-member committee constituted to probe the incident is likely to be submitted tomorrow.

45-year-old Vimal Gaikwad lost her life after falling into an overflowing nullah in the MIDC area of Andheri during heavy rains in Mumbai. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

FRP covers have been dislodged by heavy rains in the past as well, including on LBS Marg in Kurla during this year, where they were displaced due to excessive water pressure in the stormwater drain. Open manholes during the monsoon season have also caused several accidents in the city in the recent years, including the death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, a gastroenterologist at Bombay Hospital, who fell into a manhole near Prabhadevi last year in August.

“Gaikwad did not fall into a manhole, as some reports earlier suggested, but into the opening left on the cross culvert by to the missing FRP lid,” the source in BMC clarified.

Gaikwad’s body was retrieved on Wednesday night from a drain across the road, nearly 50 feet away from the spot. On Thursday, BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani set up a three-member committee headed by deputy municipal commissioner (zone 3) Devidas Kshirsagar to probe the circumstances around the incident. Other members of the committee included chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar and chief engineer (vigilance) Avinash Tambewagh. The committee was directed to submit a report within three days.

“The committee currently is drafting the report,” said the source quoted earlier.

The incident, he said, has raised concerns about the safety of stormwater drain covers and the absence of surveillance as no CCTV footage was available from the spot in Seepz to shed light on the sequence of events, the source noted.

“Due to ongoing Metro construction work, streetlights on the median where the accident occurred had been removed and CCTV cameras that are typically mounted on streetlight poles were missing. Even the additional security cameras on a nearby power grid company’s premises were reportedly switched off at the time of the incident,” said the source. “The FRP lid that was displaced, which led to the accident, has also not been retrieved.”