King’s Circle, Mumbai: On the morning of 24 June, following an overnight, thunderous rain surge in Mumbai, the city’s Mayor, Ritu Tawde, and several BMC supervisors reached the Gandhi Market in the King’s Circle area to inspect the suburb’s drainage management. During an interview with the media on a waterlogged street, a BMC worker was seen falling into an open, risky manhole just a few steps away.
Although the worker was quickly rescued by passersby and nearby citizens, the status of his injuries was not immediately revealed. A visibly infuriated Mayor exercised her authority to order the overseers of all city wards to secure such manholes, warning them that failure to address all risky pits would result in serious disciplinary actions, such as suspension. The heavy showers across Mumbai caused massive road blockages, highlighting a lack of monsoon preparedness despite the season’s considerable delay. Tawde, who reviewed the BMC’s pumping systems amid the rain, claimed the water channel cover had been moved to remove waste. “The man should have read the ‘alert’ sign and seen the barricades put around it,” she stated, as she continued her tour of the affected areas.
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A BMC official explained that the channel lid was opened to clear plastic and other trash. However, the mukadam (supervisor), who later apologized to the Mayor, approached from the other side and slipped into the channel, he added.
As the Mayor was reportedly discussing her plans to reduce urban stress in Mumbai, this incident occurred. The subsequent shifting of accountability onto the affected worker, by claiming that the area was barricaded and that it is one’s personal responsibility to avoid such zones, erupted into a political controversy. Opposition leaders heavily criticized her, arguing that the remark shifted blame onto the lowest-paid workers instead of addressing the broader issues of civic negligence, open manholes, and monsoon preparedness.
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