TS to deal with civic bodies' laxity with iron hand

Hyderbad: The municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department issued a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) of safety audit to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) on Wednesday.

It directed the civic bodies to conduct a meeting with all engineering contractors and outsourced staff agencies specifically to ensure that no manhole, openings on footpath, any other such dangerous cavities, open electrical wires are not left unattended anywhere in the city. If any, they must be attended to by the concerned officials in the next 72 hours. Ward councillors, corporators and all ward members should be sensitised and if they found any dangerous, dark and vulnerable spots, it must be brought to the notice of civic authorities immediately.

As the MA&UD is entrusted with the mandate of improving the quality of life in urban areas, it is invariably engaged in executing infrastructure works of various magnitudes from a little drain work to a big flyover construction. Though the operation and maintenance works are executed by contractors or agencies, the concerned HoD, field staff of the department and the municipal commissioner cannot take umbrage under this excuse as the ultimate responsibility of site safety at all points within a ULB rests with the municipal commissioner. Be it that of civilians, employees, workforce, loss of life is simply unacceptable. In several recent incidents, the cause of the incident prima facie seems to be avoidable safety lapses on the part of the field level staff. Reasons like negligence in timely undertaking of preventive maintenance, absence of adherence to safety protocols at work sites, failure to put safety barricading, danger sign boards or insufficient illumination, etc are resulting in avoidable mishaps taking precious human lives. Such mistakes or negligence of the field staff coupled with supervisory lapses on the part of senior officers are resulting in such accidents denting the image of the municipal bodies.

The department reiterated that all stakeholders from the field staff to the supervisory officers should be alert and cautious in avoiding worksite mishaps. Any negligence on their part will not be tolerated any more. It should be their responsibility to ensure safety of workers as well as civilians by taking reasonable precautions at all worksites. In case of any mishap, henceforth, the jurisdictional staff will be primarily held responsible and if any sort of negligence is found on their part, they will be made personally liable for the criminal misconduct leading to human injuries or loss of lives. It is also informed that immediate action including suspension and criminal negligence against the concerned head of the executing agency, head of the department and municipal commissioner will be initiated, in case any such negligence is noticed henceforth.

The MA&UD officials informed that the GHMC commissioner, commissioner and director of municipal administration engineer-in-chief (PH) and MD HMWSSB were requested to ensure scrupulous adherence to the SOPs communicated by the Centre while undertaking cleaning of sewers and septic tanks as well as general precautions listed out for worksite safety. There will be zero tolerance to such incidents which are avoidable and calls for complete safety audit within the next three days.