Mumbai Woman Stands In Rain For 7 Hours To Warn Passing Vehicles About Open Manhole, Loses Her Belongings

The ravaging Mumbai rains are causing unimaginable loss to many and far-reaching miseries to others. But concurrent with that famous "spirit of Mumbai," some Good Samaritans have risen to the occasion and are doing their bit to save others' lives. One such selfless act of courage went viral recently, when a video of a woman standing on a waterlogged street to warn passersby of the open manhole that lay beside her surfaced online. She apparently stood in the heavy rains for seven hours just to make sure no one lost their life in this accident.

The woman has been identified by Mumbai Mirror as 50-year old Kanta Maruti Kalan, who stays near Tulsi Pipe Road, Matunga West, where the video of her was captured. In the video, she can be seen signalling vehicles to be careful of the manhole she had uncapped to drain the water out. "I just did what felt right to me,” she said when asked about her selflessness.

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Here is the viral video, which was first posted to Facebook by user Sameer Patekar, and has since been shared and re-shared over 12K times:

https://www.facebook.com/sameer.patekar.5/videos/3291632797542783

Also Read: Mumbai Rains in Pictures

Social Media All Praises For Kanta Maruti Kalan

Kalan's duty of being a responsible citizen has pulled in a lot of applause and admiration from netizens who are in awe of her bravery. A user commented on Facebook, "Make her the leader for that state and you won't regret. ! Good! She deserves an award!"

Some others pointed out that draining out the streets was not the job of a common citizen, and the authorities should have taken note of it instead of Kalan. One user wrote on Twitter, "Whilst applauding her we also need to really really action the (ir)responsible ward officer or whoever is in charge of ensuring there are NO open manholes!"

Kalan, who is a flower vendor in the nearby Dadar market, reportedly stays with two school-going daughters on the "footpath outside Matunga station." Unfortunately, despite her display of humanity, the rains did not spare her. Kalan's belongings and her savings of Rs 10,000 are reported to have washed away with the flood during the time she stood on the street to ensure the safety of vehicles.

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Mumbai's Tragedy Of Open Manholes

Mumbai continues to make headlines every year during monsoons for the severe waterlogging and floods that cost the livelihoods of many in the city. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is the authority responsible for infrastructure and administration in the city, has often been criticised by Mumbaikars for their negligence of duty, especially with respect to open manholes and drains. 

Research by fact-check website Boom Live showed that last year, the BMC was "tagged in 68 manhole related grievances" online. This particular civic issue began gaining attention most notably after Dr Deepak Amarapurkar died after falling into an open manhole during the Mumbai monsoons in 2017.