PESHAWAR, Nov 23: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the provincial government and the Peshawar city district nazim on a writ petition calling for covering open manholes and drains in the provincial capital.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Qaim Jan Khan took up for preliminary hearing the petition filed by an advocate of the high court, Essa Khan, stating that scores of manholes and drains were lying open in the city and had turned into death traps for people.

The petitioner said the nazim and the provincial government had overlooked directives of the chief justice for covering the open manholes. He said covering open drains was the responsibility of the government.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice on Aug 1 of reports about the drowning of a minor girl in an open manhole on the University Road and had ordered the district government to cover open holes and drains within a week.

He had observed that safety of citizens was a fundamental right and the open manholes had been serving as death traps. Later, on Aug 22, the chief justice gave another 15 days to the government for the job.

In the incident reported in the press, six-year-old Fakhria Gul had fallen in an open drain on July 29. Her body had surfaced the next day in a canal passing through the Babu Garhi area.