Cordon off manholes, pits in Delhi, orders HC

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed all public and land-owning agencies, including Delhi Government, to cordon off and regularly inspect all manholes, pits, holes and tanks in the capital. It directed PWD to pay over Rs 12 lakh as compensation to a woman whose child died after falling into a pit in a park in 2015.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar ordered the Public Works Department to deposit Rs`12,47,500 with the Registrar General of the court within four weeks.

The bench ordered all public authorities and land owning agencies to ensure strict compliance of the directions.

"These sites shall be cordoned off to render them inaccessible to the public," the court said, directing that existence of these sites shall be clearly and visibly marked by the display of signboards and signages.

"If they are required to be covered, the authorities shall ensure that the covers are in place," the bench ruled.

The court was hearing a suo motu PIL case initiated after taking cognizance of a news report about the death of an 11-year-old boy, who had gone on a school picnic. The child fell into an uncovered rainwater harvesting pit at the Millennium Park in Southeast Delhi in December 2015. - IANS