06 July,2014 08:13 AM IST | | A Correspondent
The civic body claims that they completed all their work before May 31 and it is because of the unfinished work of the state's transport and infrastructure agencies, that the city faced a chaotic day on Wednesday
Rain
On the wettest day of the season, when hordes of officegoers and schoolchildren found themselves stranded because of waterlogging in many areas, it was the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) lack of preparation that came to the fore. But the civic body has squarely put the blame on Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the Railways, for most of the waterlogging.
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A man helps a woman cross a waterlogged railway track. Sights such as these were common on Wednesday. Pic/Sayed Sameer Abedi
Hence, they have decided to write to all other agencies to keep the city flood-proof from next year. The BMC has claimed that they finished all their work before May 31, so that there would be no inconvenience caused due to waterlogging. In fact, the corporators have blamed the Railways for not cleaning their drains under the tracks and the MMRDA, for not finishing construction and building work on time.
The BMC officials gave the example of the Kherwadi junction, which, according to them, was waterlogged because of MMRDA's ongoing work on the Kherwadi flyover. They are planning to write to the MMRDA now to expedite the work. After July 2's debacle, they are also now planning to visit all ward offices to take extra care of the cleaning of nallahs and drains. SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner, told sunday mid-day, "We will work on a monsoon plan, for which we require help from all the agencies. We will write to them to arrive at solutions to tackle waterlogging woes in the city."
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One of the railway officials, on request of anonymity, said, "Our work on the drains is still on. We will surely have a discussion with BMC to see if there is a solution in sight for these problems." Devendra Amberkar, opposition leader of Congress, said, "We have asked administration to coordinate with the Railways while preparing for monsoon and pre-monsoon work, as the railway drains become a cause of worry for us during monsoon."
