Badlapur flooding: Central Railway to ask state to probe land grab

Passengers were rescued from the Mahalaxmi Express in Badlapur on Saturday by the Indian Navy. Pic/PTI

The Central Railway on Tuesday said that they had taken note of the mid-day report on the quarrying of flood plains near Badlapur where the Mahalaxmi Express was stranded and that they shall take it up with the Maharashtra government and the appropriate local authorities. Experts had pointed out that alterations in land use had led to the problems of flooding on rail tracks. Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, who works as a GIS (Geographic Information System) and remote sensing analyst with World Resources Institute (WRI) India, had collated data and analysed what possibly could have gone wrong for so much waterlogging on the tracks.

Palanichamy studied the maps from 2003 and 2019 and found that the tracks are laid close to the floodplains of Ulhas river where a the natural island has been altered for "development". "The water levels there rose suddenly to unprecedented levels. A local train had passed by the stretch safely just a few minutes before this one. Even the Chennai Express had passed through the stretch before that, which is why we had allowed the Mahalaxmi Express to pass by," a senior CR official said. "We have taken note of the land use issue and will take it up immediately with the Maharashtra government and appropriate local authorities for them to take corrective action. This aspect has to be considered seriously," he added.

Also Read: Watch video: 700 passengers stranded in Mahalaxmi Express near Badlapur

Palanichamy has offered his help and said that he would be glad to co-operate with the railways. "The tracks are laid close go the flood plains of Ulhas river which takes a sharp turn here. The section of the river also has a natural island which has been affected by the quarrying activity which affects water flow," he said. He claimed that quarrying, digging, and lorry movement had led to the problem. "It seems they have built temporary roads in the island leading to the eastern banks. The entire section needs better and holistic planning. In order to prevent such incidents, the government needs to identify, demarcate, and protect flood plains and water bodies in a scientific manner," he insisted.

When asked about the quarrying, commissioner of Badlapur Kulgaon Municipal Council Prakash Borse said that the area where the train had submerged did not fall in their limits. "The spot where the train was stuck is about 5 km away from our limits," he told mid-day. Badlapur township had been, however, badly submerged, and is now slowly standing back on its feet. Officials from the district collector's office said that the location near the river may belong to a private party and that they will have to find out what really went wrong, adding that "it would be difficult to draw any conclusions immediately before investigating what has actually gone wrong on the ground".

Also Read: Mumbai Rains: Kalyan and Badlapur crawl to normalcy after flooding

The stranded train

The Mumbai-Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Express, with more than 700 passengers on board was stranded as torrential rainfall battered Thane district on Saturday. The train was held up between Vangani and Badlapur, 100 kilometres from Mumbai, since 3 am on Saturday owing to waterlogging on and around the tracks. Around eight NDRF boats along with Railway personnel reached the spot soon after and rescued all passengers, which included a few pregnant women, safely.

July 27
Day Mahalaxmi Express was stranded

700
Approximate No. of passengers rescued

Also Read: Mumbai Rains: Mahalaxmi Express passengers rescued in five-hours after train gets stuck at Badlapur

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