Heritage manhole cover stolen from Sector 38 in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, March 20

A heritage manhole cover bearing an impression of Chandigarh’s map was stolen from Sector 38 in the wee hours of Tuesday. The incident was caught on a CCTV camera installed near the spot.

Sources said a thief made an unsuccessful attempt to steal the manhole cover early in the morning on March 17. On March 19, two persons visited the spot and stole the cover.

The police were informed about the incident following which an investigation was started by the Sector 39 police station.

In 2010, the city woke up to the importance of these manhole covers, when a heritage cover was sold for Rs 10.67 lakh by a Paris-based auction house. A number of manhole covers, designed by French architect Le Corbusier, have gone missing from the city in the past one decade.

The city has around 2,000 manhole covers that are susceptible to theft. In 2019, the Municipal Corporation had decided to replace all heritage manhole covers with concrete ones.