Bombay High Court reprimands BMC for sorry state of roads
Mumbai : The Bombay High Court today reprimanded the Brihan Mumbai Corporation (BMC) for the sorry state of roads in the city and not making proper arrangements for the people, who are put in a difficult situation, as rain continues to lash the city for the fifth consecutive day.
With rains not showing any sign of letting up and disrupting normal life in Mumbai, it was once again left to the judiciary to take the authorities to task. The court castigated the BMC and the contractors, who got the road constructed.
Heavy rains have left potholed roads in city. Observing that the roads were in a bad condition because of the low quality material used in their construction, the court directed the BMC to file its reply in this connection by July 26.
The court also asked the Indian Railways to inform it about the measures that were taken to avoid inconvenience to the commuters.
Meanwhile, heavy rains continued to lash the city and the suburbs today. The weather office has predicted heavy to extremely heavy rainfall with gusty winds during the day.
Fishermen have been warned not to venture into a very rough sea. A local caution signal LC-3 Flag has been hoisted along the Maharashtra-Goa coast, weather bureau said.
Suburban train services on the Western, Central (main) and Harbour lines are delayed by 15 to 20 minutes. Four long distance trains were cancelled and three rescheduled. The morning trains, however, left for their destinations, railway sources said.
Three long distance trains, which had been rescheduled for the day, were Geetanjali Express, Shatabhdi Express, and Ferozpur Express.
The four cancelled trains were Bhusaval Passenger, Tapovan Express, Deccan Express and Koyna passenger.
Traffic on roads, however, got little normal with water receding at several places, traffic police said.
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has warned citizens not to venture out unless urgent. It has also instructed people to boil the drinking water before use.
Hundreds of people living on the banks of swollen Mithi River here were evacuated after the desilted river flooded homes following incessant downpour.
Around 600 people on the banks of the river, which wrecked similar havoc last year, said they were scared to enter their houses as heavy rains have already washed away some houses.
“We are really scared as some of the houses have been washed away. We don’t want to stay here any more,” Sushma, a local, said.
Social workers shifted affected people to safer places and are providing food and shelter.
“Every year the Mithi River overflows and causes problems for the residents. This year too it is flooded and so we are providing shelter to people. We are also providing food to them,” Anil Mandle, a social worker said.
Schools and colleges have been shut and emergency workers are working overtime to cope with monsoon rains.
The city’s more than 150-year-old drainage system failed to tackle about 10m (4 inches) of rains over the past 24 hours and several areas remained under knee-deep water.
Last July, two days of heavy rain exposed Mumbai’s poor infrastructure and dismal emergency response. The floods killed hundreds of people in and around Mumbai and shut down the city for almost a week. (ANI)