Corporator stuck for 30 minutes in new lift at BBMP office

A newly installed lift in the BBMP council building gave some tense moments to M Chandrappa Reddy, chairperson of the civic body’s ward-wise committee, when its door did not open on Wednesday afternoon.

Reddy could come out crawling only after the technical staff broke open a small passage of the door using a jack.

The BBMP council meeting was convened on Wednesday to discuss the starred questions raised by corporators. In the middle of the meeting, Reddy went out to collect some papers from his office. He used the lift to reach his office on the first floor. The machine gave way when he was coming down.

“We were halfway through and about to reach the ground floor when the power went off. The generator was started but the lift remained stuck. The lift operator was with me. He kept pressing the button without any success,” Reddy said.

Reddy remained stuck between 12.45 pm and 1.15 pm. To his good luck, there was a good presence of the BBMP technical staff to ensure that the council proceedings go on smoothly.

As the alarm button was pressed, everybody rushed to the lift. The technical staff struggled for almost half-an-hour to bring him out. They finally cracked open a passage from the door using a jack.
It is learnt that the lift was installed a month ago and was under trial. The old lift was discarded as it would make a weird sound and land with a thud.