Oppn slams govt over rain chaos

In focus was the recently inaugurated Connecting Link on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which had rainwater and mud pouring in at the mouth of one of its tunnels. The opposition also sought answers on the widespread tree collapses in the city

MUMBAI: The opposition slammed the BJP-led Mahayuti government on Monday, alleging that the havoc wrought by heavy rain in Mumbai was due to poor infrastructure, poor planning and gross mismanagement.

Opposition MLAs protest at entrance of Vidhan Bhavan on Monday (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

In focus was the recently inaugurated Connecting Link on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which had rainwater and mud pouring in at the mouth of one of its tunnels. The opposition also sought answers on the widespread tree collapses in the city.

In a social media post, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said, “Corruption is the first name of the BJP and Mindhe (referring to Eknath Shinde). Using it while on the way to Pune and back, I noticed and stated publicly also, that not even 50 ft of the road is flat. It is all undulated and feels like one is sitting in a boat, riding the waves.”

NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule demanded a transparent probe into its construction.

Congress MLC Satej Patil said, “The IMD had issued an alert on July 3. Why wasn’t traffic stopped when it began to rain heavily?’’

On the tree collapses that have claimed lives, Patil said the BMC had planned to trim 80,750 trees and claimed 94% of the work was done. Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab said trees were crashing to the ground as the government had concretised roads in places where it was not required.

Congress MLC Satej Patil also pointed out that in Mankhurd, where seven persons had died in a chawl collapse, the BMC had taken no action even though it knew the chawl was illegal.

State disaster management minister Girish Mahajan said he had visited the Mankhurd crash site, adding that illegal chawls had mushroomed a long time ago. “Local MLA Abu Asim Azmi told me how people came charging at him when notices were served by the authorities,’’ said Mahajan.

On tree collapses, the minister said 750 trees topple every year. This year, 350 trees had fallen so far. Calling tree collapses “unfortunate”, he said the authorities are taking precautions.