Opposition in BMC stages walk out

Mumbai, Jun 9 (UNI) The opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's standing committee today staged a walk-out after the administration failed to give satisfactory replies to questions raised by their leader Raj Hans Singh for water-logging in the city in the initial stages of the monsoon.

It may be noted that the rains started on June 6 and since then, there had been water-logging in many areas of the city, disrupting the normal routine of people.

Mr Singh, supported by many corporators, said the water logging was there in their wards and the corporators had to face the wrath of their voters.

To that, BMC Commissioner Jairaj Phatak replied that heavy rains and high tides were responsible for water-logging in the city and that there was no flooding as the water was drained out after some time.

''The Sea refuses to accept rain water during high tides, leading to such a situation,'' he explained.

NCP corporator Niyaz Vanu said ''the accumulated water is not getting drained, even hours after the rains had stopped, thereby affecting the people.'' Congress corporator Vinod Shekhar said ''the cleaning of drains has been taking place for many years now, but there has not been a difference in the condition of the drains, even after increasing the money spent for the purpose.'' After Mr Phatak finished his clarification and left, Additional Municipal Commissioner, R A Rajiv, said four pumping stations in Mumbai had stopped functioning for a few hours due to rains and high tides, which resulted in less water getting drained out.

Before Mr Rajiv could finish, the opposition, led by Mr Singh, walked out, saying that the administration was not capable of handling the situation and was only blaming heavy rains, sea and the high tides rather than finding solution for water logging.

Meanwhile, heavy rains lashed the city for the fourth successive day today.

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