Will complain to ACB against civic officials over clogged drains in Mumbai: BJP’s Vivekanand Gupta

MUMBAI: Till a week ago, the Shiv Sena, especially Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya, went to town highlighting party achievements in making Mumbai rain-ready. The party chief’s son oversaw the filling up of potholes and also inaugurated the pumping stations that were meant to pump out the water from low lying area in central Mumbai to the sea. But then it rained. And the Sena’s plans for the city began to unravel, just when it was to celebrate its foundation day on Friday.

Record rainfall brought the city to a halt as roads were submerged, trains stopped as tracks were flooded and the pumping stations failed. The Sena, which has been preparing for battle of survival during the 2017 municipal elections, suddenly found itself facing an avalanche of criticism from the media to the political parties to the common man.

Especially since the party has been in power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC for the past 25 years, its failure to stop the flooding was all the more glaring. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam came up with a sarcastic take on the slogan the Sena had used in the last civic elections, ‘Karun dakhavla’ (we have done it and shown).

“They have not done it and shown but have filled it and shown,” said Nirupam, who blamed both the BJP and the Sena equally for the mess. Others like BJP Mumbai secretary Vivekanand Gupta also took on the Sena, although not directly.

“I am making preparations for filing a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau against civic officials who have been appointing contractors for cleaning the drains. It’s because the drains were not cleaned that the city has been flooded,” said Gupta, claiming that his complaint was not against the Sena in particular.

Shiv Sena MP and editor of the party mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, Sanjay Raut, defended his party and said the downpour was a natural calamity. “This has been a record rainfall in the last 24 hours. Our party president Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya did their best in ensuring the city was equipped to tackle rainfall. However this was too much of rain. Also one has to remember that migrants who are staying near the railway tracks have caused the tracks to be flooded,” he said.

The Sena decided to cancel its foundation day celebrations that were to be held at the Shanmukhananda hall in Matunga. Uddhav directed workers to help out the people instead. The Sena’s discomfiture was acute as CM Devendra Fadnavis made a quick visit to BMC’s disaster control room to oversee rescue efforts. Not to be left behind, both Uddhav and Aditya also travelled to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and were ensconced at disaster management HQ.