Heavy rainfall disrupts normal life in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Heavy rains in Mumbai, the coastal districts and parts of western Maharashtra and Vidarbha on Monday disrupted normal life, leading to the cancellation of trains, adjournment of the legislative assembly, closure of schools and colleges and precautionary measures being put in place to avert any mishaps and accidents. The opposition, meanwhile, hit out at the state government, saying the season’s first bout of heavy rain had exposed its tall claims.

The state administration announced closure of schools and colleges in Mumbai and Thane to avoid inconvenience to students. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed as a precautionary measure in Thane, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Vasai, Mahad (Raigad), Chiplun (Ratnagiri), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Sindhudurg, in addition to the teams stationed full-time at Andheri and Nagpur.

“The deployments would help us avert any untoward incident and respond swiftly in case of a flood-like situation,” said an NDRF official.

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Chief minister Eknath Shinde, who held a review meeting at the state disaster management cell at Mantralaya in the afternoon, urged people not to venture out unless there was an emergency. “I am in constant touch with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the state disaster management cell, Railways, and police to monitor the situation,” he said.

Shinde directed the state administration to safeguard lives, shift people to safer places, and remain on alert. Focussing on Mumbai, which was brought to a grinding halt by the rainfall, he said, “BMC has set up over 5,000 control rooms to monitor the situation. We are erecting flood gates on the shore of Mithi river to avert sea water flowing back into city during high tide. Pumping stations are also being set up at seven locations to pump out the flooding water,” he said.

Long-distance trains headed to Mumbai were short terminated at Ambernath, Kalyan and Thane, leaving legislators headed to Mumbai to attend the monsoon session of state legislature after a two-day break stranded.

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“We have evacuated 374 people in Sidhudurg to safer places after the district reported 216.5mm rainfall over 24 hours,” deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the state assembly before it was adjourned for the day.

The Opposition also hit out at the state government, saying the season’s first heavy showers had exposed the state’s unpreparedness for the monsoon. “The first showers have wrecked havoc in Mumbai. There is no coordination between the Railways and BMC and corrupt practices in the Shinde government have led to the city going for a toss. The offices of the two guardian ministers in the civic body headquarters, are they meant for streamlining the administration or minting money,” asked Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.

BJP’s city unit chief Ashish Shelar too faulted the BMC for poor cleaning of culverts and nullahs. “When we all (political parties) were busy with the Lok Sabha elections, the contractors did shoddy work such that the silt cleared from nullahs has gone back in, leading to water logging,” said Shelar, demanding a white paper on the desilting of nullahs in the city.

Chief minister Shinde, however, urged people not to politicise the issue, saying, “The Air Force and the Navy are on standby. We are in touch with these agencies and will deploy them if needed. This is not the time to politicise the issue.”