Mumbai rains: Colleges shut down early

By noon, many colleges decided to call off remaining lectures and send students back home

Heavy rainfall all morning ensured meager attendance in colleges across Mumbai. By noon, many colleges had decided to call off remaining lectures and send students back home. Not only students but college staff, too, were allowed to leave early.

“The attendance was anyway very low, but we started lectures because some students had made it for class. Even junior college students showed up for lectures in the afternoon batch, but we received many alerts about water logging so decided to call off classes,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra. She said the college administration office received hundreds of frantic calls from worried parents. “If it doesn’t stop raining, students might find it difficult to get back home,” she said.

KC College, Churchgate, said even though attendance was “decent”, they called off lectures after noon and informed junior college students to not come to college at all. “Even our staff was getting worried about reaching home. So by 3pm, when it was still pouring, we decided to send everyone home,” said Manju Nichani, principal.

NSS volunteers from several colleges also took to the streets to regulate traffic movement, especially in the water logged areas. “Some students of Ruia College in Matunga were regulating traffic between Sion and Dadar, as the traffic police were missing,” said a resident of Dadar. Ruia College, too, called off lectures by noon.