Five die every day due to fall in pits, manholes

NEW DELHI: The recent case of five-year-old Mahi dying after falling into an abandoned bore well might have grabbed the nation’s attention but every day, at least five people in India die in such incidents.
Maharashtra recorded the maximum 451 people dying due to fall in pits/manholes in 2011 while among cities, Pune and Nasik, both in Maharashtra, were at the top in such accidents.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of 2011, 1,843 lives were lost in such accidents compared to 1,743 the previous year. Majority of the falls were fatal. These accidents were reported from all states barring Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Among states, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan recorded high number of deaths while among Union Territories, Delhi topped the list with 20 fatalities.
The report shows that although the maximum number of such falls was reported from Nasik (822), only 38 people died.
In Pune, 80 people died in an equal number of accidental falls into pits/manholes.
The NCRB report also pointed to another worrying trend of growing road deaths in the country, exposing how law enforcing agencies and road owning authorities have done little to make roads user friendly. In 2011, 4.40 lakh road accidents were reported leading to 1.37 lakh deaths. Surprisingly, the transport research wing (TRW) of the highways ministry, which brings out annual road fatality data, has reportedly recorded 1.44 lakh deaths in 2011.
The latest NCRB data shows that Tamil Nadu had the maximum share of 15% of fatalities followed by Andhra Pradesh at 10.7%. The highest incidence of traffic accidents was reported in Chennai (9,845) which caused 1,399 deaths while Delhi recorded more deaths despite less number of accidents. In the national capital, 1,679 people died in 6,065 accidents and in Bangalore, the fatality was 720 in 6,031 accidents.
Among states, in J&K, UP, Nagaland and Punjab, every second accident death victim died in road accidents. While 64.9% of deaths were due to road accidents in J&K, it was 53.1% in UP, much higher that the national average of 37.3%.