Mumbai: Coming down heavily on the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena, Opposition parties on Tuesday held them accountable for the mayhem the maximum city is facing. Angered by the woes of common man due to water-logging, Ajit Pawar even demanded that the BMC be dissolved and the city be handed over to an administrator. The government washed off its hands from this mayhem and blamed heavy rain for this malaise. Ajit Pawar, former Deputy Chief Minister, held the Chief Minister responsible for this mayhem. “To protect the lives of people is the responsibility of the government and they cannot wash off their hands”, said Pawar as he pulled up the government.
NCP leader in Assembly Jayant Patil termed the rampant corruption in the BMC as the root cause of this havoc. “Now, this corruption has marooned the Matoshree – the Thackeray residence. The BJP had announced that it would work as a watchman, but they were compromising in all quarters,” Patil slammed the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
It was expected that state government will admit their and the BMC's faults. But like Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who claimed that there was no water logging, CM Fadnavis too claimed all arrangements were in place but unusually heavy rain caused the havoc.
"The rain last night was unprecedented. In four to five hours, it was 375 to 400 mm of rainfall. It was the second heaviest downpour in the last 40 years. The average rainfall in June was achieved in just three days," CM Fadnavis said while saving his own skin. "Mumbai's water drainage capacity works well when it gets 150 mm rain in 24 hours. However, this system gets stressed when there is heavy rainfall in a very short time," was the typical excuse churned out by the CM. "The Shiv Sena is ruling the BMC for the last 20 years. But if the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor are not working properly, they should be punished. If need be dissolve the BMC and appoint an Administrator for it," Ajit Pawar demanded. "The water logging exposes the claims of good governance.
Therefore, reasons of water logging should be investigated in detail. Those who are responsible for this mayhem should be charged with culpable homicide," Pawar said. He also slammed the government and the BMC for not completing the widening and deepening work of Mithi River. Chhagan Bhujbal, former Deputy Chief Minister said he was also mayor of Mumbai. “During my time, there used to be only one Commissioner and there was no problem like this. Now, the problem is worsening even though 5 to 6 IAS officers are on the job. The BMC should focus on avoiding disasters instead of allowing them to happen,” Bhujbal added.
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