As Mumbai received its first heavy rainfall with the onset of monsoon, it led to waterlogging at various places, even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said the new system developed to prevent flooding in the city was functioning well.
The opposition parties, however, slammed the Chief Minister saying his claim of monsoon preparedness fell flat in the first rains and that all his "false promises, photo ops in Mumbai hold zero value."
In a startling revelation, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it recovered a 165-litre fridge, a cupboard and other waste from a nullah near the Andheri subway that had to be shut for traffic on Saturday following the downpour and the rain water had to be pumped out.
Mumbai and its suburbs received heavy rains in the last 24 hours, resulting in waterlogging at various places and affecting vehicular movement on some roads, officials said on Sunday.
In a rare event, the monsoon on Sunday covered both Delhi and Mumbai together.
The Colaba observatory in Mumbai, representative of the island city, recorded 86 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Sunday while the Santacruz weather station, representative of suburbs, registered 176.1 mm rainfall in the same period, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Heavy rains affected vehicular movement on some roads in the city. Waterlogging in areas like Malad and Andheri slowed down the traffic further.
Mumbai is expected to receive more showers during the day, an IMD official said.
Mr Shinde on Sunday reviewed the functioning of an underground water tank installed at the Milan subway here to prevent flooding and said the system was working.
Milan subway, Hindmata and a couple of other locations in Mumbai are prone to water-logging during rains every year.
The BMC has constructed underground water tanks in these areas to prevent flooding.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Shinde said, "I personally came to review the situation at the Milan subway and the new system has proved that it works. More than 70 mm rainfall was reported in one hour, and still the system that we have developed has worked."
"Despite such excessive rain, the Milan subway remained open for vehicular movement. Similar systems are functional in other areas of Mumbai also," he said.
The Chief Minister also ordered the BMC officials to undertake measures to avoid water-logging resulting in disruption of vehicular movement during rains.
The civic body said it recovered a 165-litre fridge, a cupboard, rubber pipes and other waste from the Mogra nullah flowing near the Andheri subway. Due to this waste, the rainwater pumping machinery was blocked following heavy rains on Saturday, it said.
The Andheri subway had to be closed for traffic on Saturday during the rains and the civic machinery pumped out the rain water in an hour's time, it added.
Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad slammed the civic administration and the Shinde-led state government saying that all claims of monsoon preparedness fell flat in the first rains.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray tweeted a report in which Mr Shinde reportedly said that instead of criticising about water-logging, people should welcome rains.
"If shamelessness, incompetence and corruption had a face...It's disgraceful for him to rebuke Mumbaikars for complaining about waterlogging and the collapse of civic machinery yesterday. All his false promises, photo ops in Mumbai hold zero value," Mr Thackeray said on Twitter.
He also said there was a "vacuum of political and administrative leadership" to hear the issues of Mumbaikars.
"Where is the Municipal Commissioner/Administrator? Hasn't been heard/ seen yesterday or today. All these years, we've seen municipal commissioners on the roads, during monsoons. Missing now!" MR Thackeray said.
This is what happens when people who want to loot Mumbai, get governance in their hand by treachery, the Worli MLA said.
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