India’s financial capital, Mumbai, came to a standstill on Friday as unprecedented heavy torrential rain, measuring close to 300 mm over 24 hours, paralysed the city’s transport and telecommunication services, leaving thousands of people marooned and disrupting business.
The heavy downpour overnight and throughout the day severely affected life. Arterial roads, highways and low-lying areas were water-logged. Internet and electricity services were hit in several areas.
The city’s lifeline — suburban trains which ferry 75 lakh people daily, roughly one-third of the total number of passengers of the Railways a day — was the worst affected as all three lines were out of service due to waterlogging. Bus and other transport services came to a halt, while several long-haul trains and flights were rescheduled.
Ajoy Mehta, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said the city had received roughly “10 per cent of the total [monsoon] rainfall over just 24 hours”.
The BMC said two persons were electrocuted at Sion.
People who dared to venture out had to wade through knee-deep or even waist-deep water. In severely hit areas, people even used boats to commute.
Schools remained shut, while the University of Mumbai announced that many of its examinations would be postponed or cancelled. The Bombay High Court was closed for the day.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis monitored the situation from the BMC’s disaster control room and advised people to stay away from the seaside and not venture out of homeunless absolutely necessary. It could prove to be fatal, he warned.
The Corporation alerted the National Disaster Response Force, the Army and the Navy. The Navy posted rescue teams across Mumbai and kept divers, inflatable boats and rescue helicopters on standby.
BMC under fireThe BMC, jointly run by the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, came under severe criticism for the waterlogging and unpreparedness to face the monsoon. Mr. Mehta said the situation had worsened as some pumps were not functional, but the civic body had replaced them. As many as 120 suction pumps were used to drain out water from low-lying areas.
Before the onset of the monsoon, the civic body, one of the richest in the country, had claimed that all nullahs in the city had been de-silted. It had proposed a Rs. 200-crore de-silting programme and assured citizens of no water-logging during the monsoon.
‘Embarrassment’Calling it an “embarrassment” that the country’s top city had to come to a standstill at the start of the rains, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde sought an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau into the mishandling of funds for the nullah-cleaning scheme.
Trying to rein in criticism, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Corporation should not be held solely responsible for the situation. He suggested that a single civic agency handled civic affairs, and refrained from holding responsible the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, headed by Mr. Fadnavis.
There seems to be no let-up in the rain as the Meteorological Department has forecast more rain over the next couple of days.
