Blame monsoon, not BMC: Sanjay Raut on wall collapse in Mumbai and Pune that killed 24

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, Jul 02, 2019 : Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Tuesday sought to defend the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation that the Shiv Sena and the BJP control for the flooding that incessant rains have thrown Mumbai into. Insisting that the monsoon was to blame for the deluge, Raut termed the Mumbai wall collapse which killed 19 people as an accident and refused to accept blame for the BMC. He further said that the accident happened because of heavy rainfall and such tragedies can happen anywhere, Yahoo reported.

 

Mumbai and Pune have been witnessing heavy downpour in the last few days. In Pune’s Ambegaon area, a wall of an educational institute collapsed on their makeshift shelters in which six labourers died and three others were injured. In a similar incident in Mumbai, heavy rainfall caused a wall collapse in the northern suburb of Malad where over 19 people died and 50 were injured.

Heavy rainfall is not new to Mumbai and maintaining the civic facilities is the job of the BMC, which also happens to be the richest civic body in India. However, the Shiv Sena leader blamed monsoon instead of the civic body. He claimed that BMC was prepared for monsoon but tragedies like wall collapse happen due to heavy rains. "It’s (wall collapse) not about the failure of BMC. What happened in Pune and Mumbai is an accident…It is raining so heavily that if it rains in the mountain areas, the mountain will fall. Mumbai and Pune wall collapse are accidents and they can happen anywhere," Raut said while speaking to ANI.

Besides blaming the monsoon, Raut also sought to hold people responsible for the tragedies. Raut said people were at fault as they had illegally constructed houses on sewers. "In Mumbai people have constructed houses on sewers, they have constructed illegal walls. What happened is an accident and there is no fault of the BMC in it," he added. However, the Congress slammed the BJP-Shiv Sena government for poor preparedness to deal with the monsoon fury. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that Sena-BJP government was arrogant, corrupt and incompetent that has left Mumbai in the lurch in the flood season.