MUMBAI, July 3 -- Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday termed the fatal open manhole incident "extremely serious", saying negligence by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was putting lives at risk and that merely suspending officials was inadequate. He suggested those responsible should face charges of culpable homicide. The Maharashtra government informed the state assembly that a preliminary BMC inquiry found the manhole into which 55-year-old Aslam Shaikh fell and was swept away had been opened for maintenance work, but the site lacked basic safety measures such as barricades and tripod warning signs. Minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal said the BMC has suspended four officials for alleged negligence and constituted a committee headed by Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) Dr Vipin Sharma to study manhole death incidents and submit recommendations within seven days to prevent similar accidents. The civic body has also directed all Deputy Municipal Commissioners and Assistant Municipal Commissioners to conduct a citywide survey of manholes and submit a status report within eight days. The contractor responsible for the maintenance work has been booked by the police on a complaint filed by the BMC, Misal said. The issue was raised by BJP MLA Ameet Satam, who demanded criminal action against the officials. Narwekar recalled the death of actor Dr Deepak Amrapurkar in a similar incident in 2018 and said negligence could not be ignored....