Mumbai Rains: Official Falls Into Open Hole In Front of Mayor Who Touted ‘Pre-monsoon Preparations’
New Delhi: A Mumbai civic official fell into an open maintenance hole in the city's King's Circle area on Wednesday (June 24), just metres away from where mayor Ritu Tawde was reviewing measures to deal with the neighbourhood's persistent waterlogging issues.
Tawde was seen speaking to officials in front of Mahatma Gandhi Market near King's Circle when the official, an employee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), lurched into an open maintenance hole just off the curb.
Having fallen waist-deep inside, the man was pulled out of the hole that was virtually invisible under the water carpeting the edge of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road right in front of the mayor. Tawde was subsequently seen speaking sternly to other officials at the scene.
At the pumping stations near the same market, she also told an ANI camera crew that the road here is clear and the water being actively drained out. “Mumbai's daily life is running smoothly – this is a testament to the pre-monsoon preparations being well-executed this year,” she was quoted as saying in a BMC statement later in the day.
But her deputy Sanjay Ghadi acknowledged Wednesday evening that the BMC's preparations may not have covered all their bases – or holes.
Submitting a representation to BMC commissioner Ashwini Bhide, Ghadi noted the corporation official's fall and said he had “demanded an immediate survey” of maintenance holes in Mumbai “and the installation of durable and secure grates on them”. The exercise should especially cover schools, hospitals, railway stations and areas prone to waterlogging, he said.
For her part Tawde told NDTV that the maintenance hole in King's Circle was uncovered to remove waste and appeared to blame the BMC official, saying he should have noticed the barricades at the scene. Videos of the incident and pictures of the footpath concerned show the presence of signage warning of a ‘high voltage area’.
Varsha Gaikwad, Congress MP for Mumbai North East, said in a post addressed to Tawde that the incident was “not an accident” but of mayor's “corruption [being] caught red-handed”.
“Before telling the opposition to come out onto the streets and work, take a look at that citizen who has fallen into the pothole right in front of you. That man has fallen into the pothole of your inaction and corruption,” Gaikwad wrote on X, referring to Tawde's remarks.
Monsoon rains arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, around 12 days behind schedule, drenching the city with 225 mm to 250 mm of rainfall over a 24-hour period, the BMC said. The city tends to receive around 526 mm of rain in June according to meteorological data for 1991-2020.
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