NYC Manholes Forged Barefoot In India
To any observant resident or tourist, its a well known fact that manhole covers in NYC have the “Made in India” tag on them.
And hence this article in the NYT caught my interest.
Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.
Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.
Read the entire story here
Image copyrights J. Adam Huggins for The New York Times
