Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan has appealed to people to avoid unnecessary travel amid heavy rains and red alerts. The opposition, led by Satej Patil, has criticised the government's handling of the situation and its disaster response measures.
Minister Urges Caution Amid Heavy Rains
Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Girish Mahajan on Monday appealed to people to remain vigilant and avoid unnecessary travel as heavy rainfall continued to disrupt normal life across several parts of the state, affecting road and rail traffic and prompting authorities to remain on high alert.
"People should avoid travelling to tourist destinations for the time being and should leave their homes only when absolutely necessary. Strong winds of 70 to 90 kilometres per hour are blowing in many areas, and the Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for some places with heavy to very heavy rainfall expected today and tomorrow," Mahajan said.
Mahajan said the torrential rain had disrupted road and rail services in many parts of Maharashtra, while schools had also been closed in several places as a precautionary measure. He said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had convened a high-level meeting with officials of the Disaster Management Department to review the situation.
According to the minister, the government is closely monitoring developments and all concerned departments have been put on alert. Mahajan also added that a section of the Mumbai Expressway's missing link had been closed following a landslide.
He appealed to all political parties and leaders not to politicise the natural disaster and instead cooperate with the government in relief and rescue operations.
Opposition Criticises Government's Response
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Satej Patil criticised the state government over the situation arising from the heavy rainfall and demanded that it make a detailed statement in the Assembly.
"There was a rush to inaugurate the missing link of the Mumbai Expressway and take credit. The government should now take responsibility for the incidents and chaos that occurred there," Patil said.
He alleged that the present situation reflected a failure of governance and claimed that inadequate planning had left people stranded on major highways without timely information. "No effective planning was done by the government, due to which people stranded on major highways could not receive timely information," he alleged.
He also questioned why people were not notified sooner when the Meteorological Department had already issued red and orange alerts. Patil claimed that the government did not appear to be concerned about the situation, and that Mumbai's infrastructure appeared to be collapsing in the face of heavy rain. While some in the government refer to it as "infra-man," who is responsible for it now? He further demanded that the state government make a detailed statement in the House and place before it complete information on the heavy rainfall, traffic management and disaster response measures. (ANI)
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