Rains lash several parts of Maharashtra

Mumbai, Aug 10 (UNI) Heavy rains lashed several parts of Maharashtra, including the city and Pune, throwing out of gear train services on the Central Railway but vehicular traffic remained unaffected.

Central Railway spokesperson told UNI that all trains between Pune and Mumbai were cancelled today. ''Looking at the heavy rains since last night, the decision to cancel services was taken by the authorities'', he said.

'We will review the situation tonight and decide about tomorrow's schedule', the spokesperson said.

In Mumbai, services on the harbour line of Central Railway were partially affected with trains running 15 to 20 minutes late and some of them were also cancelled.

The spokesperson said rain water had accumulated on the tracks at Kurla, Sion, Chunabhatti and Govandi this afternoon.

The possibility of floods in Kolhapur District loomed large, with the Radhanagri and Doodhganga dams registering 99 and 95 per cent water levels.

State Irrigation Department officials said around 35,000 cusecs of water was discharged from Mulshi dam and 10,000 cusecs from Kahdakvasla Dam and Pavna dam in Pune this afternoon.

Around 400 mm rainfall was registered in the catchment area of Pavna.

The rains brought smiles back on the faces of agriculturists as the state has been facing a drought-like situation.

The Highway Police said traffic was a little slow but normal on the Pune-Mumbai Highway and the Expressway. No untoward incident was reported, police said.

However, in Mumbai a large of trees were uprooted due to the squally winds but there were no casualties.

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