Lately, a picture has taken the social media by a storm which shows a man emerging out of a manhole in Karnataka's Mangaluru.
Here is the story behind a rare incident that occurred in Mangaluru. Manohar Shetty, a local BJP Corporator on Wednesday, June 24, entered an eight feet deep manhole in his ward to clear the garbage and unclog the pipe at Kadri-Kambala.
According to reports, a huge stormwater drain began to overflow with garbage stuck inside the manhole causing traffic and difficulty for pedestrians walking about.
The elected representative garnered praise from netizens after Shetty's photos in which he was seen emerging out of the manhole went viral on social media.
In an interview, Manohar Shetty said, "I requested the jet operator to go inside the stormwater drain and try to clear the clogged pipe using a high-speed water sprayer. He refused to do so claiming that he was not authorised for that kind of a job. The situation was getting worse. No one was ready to enter. Then, I decided to enter the manhole and clean the clogged pipe."
We are elected representatives, If we can do something quickly, we must
This was not the first time Shetty tried to fix the manhole. Earlier he asked labourers to clear the manhole but they refused to do so due to monsoon. He also reached out to help from officials but that did not help clear the manhole.
The first-time corporator expressed, "We can't force poor people to enter a manhole to clean the pipes for us. If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility? Which is why I decided to do the job myself. We can't depend on officials for everything," he said.
We are elected representatives. If we can do something quickly, we must do that. In Mangaluru, it rains heavily during the four months of Monsoon; we can't postpone such things. We had to do something immediately and we did just that - Manohar Shetty
He further spoke about civic problems in his wards and said if needed he will repeat this action if any need arrives as it is his responsibility to help people of his ward.
'Leading from d front, setting an example': Netizens praise
P Muralidhar Rao, National General Secretary, BJP, tweeted praising Shetty's efforts, "Leading from d front....setting an example..Well done Manohar Shetty ji. I'm proud...of u."
Another netizen said, "A rare display of leadership from a first time Corporator leading by example, indeed a lesson for the elected leaders in particular and people in general for emulating."
