Cong MP accuses Maharashtra govt of insensitivity over Mumbai rain tragedies

Mumbai Congress president and Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad on Saturday accused the BJP-led Maharashtra government of being insensitive to the hardships faced by residents during the ongoing monsoon, while criticising Mumbai BJP chief and MLA Ameet Satam over his remarks following two recent rain-related deaths.

In a statement, Gaikwad alleged that Satam "had only a smile" despite the tragedies witnessed in the city this week. She claimed he was "busy narrating the chronology" of waterlogging on Veera Desai Road instead of addressing the plight of residents or acknowledging administrative shortcomings.

Her remarks came in the wake of two incidents in Mumbai this week — the death of an 11-year-old boy after a tree fell on his school bus and the drowning of a man in an open manhole during heavy rainfall.

Satam has drawn criticism after a video circulated on social media showed him smiling while referring to the incidents. In the video, recorded on the steps of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan alongside Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Jayant Patil, Satam is heard saying, "Yesterday, it was because of a tree, today it is a manhole."

Referring to the annual monsoon challenges in Mumbai, Gaikwad alleged that the city continued to suffer from poor infrastructure despite substantial public expenditure.

"Every year it is the same crumbling Mumbai, the same corrupt sewer cleaning, the same squandering of crores of rupees, followed by verbal fireworks from BJP leaders. They have no courage to accept responsibility but are always ready to blame the opposition," she said.

The Congress leader appealed to citizens to hold the government accountable for what she described as "insensitive politics" during Mumbai's recurring monsoon crisis.

Gaikwad also criticised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over potholes that appeared on the Missing Link section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway within two months of its inauguration.

Questioning media reports that quoted Fadnavis as saying the first spell of rain served as a "test" for the newly opened stretch, she asked whether commuters' lives had become a "testing laboratory".

"If the road was under testing after the first rains, why was toll collected during this period?" she said.

Gaikwad maintained that citizens had the right to question the quality of public infrastructure built with taxpayers' money and alleged that the government was blaming critics instead of addressing deficiencies.

"The roads are not sturdy, but the government's explanations certainly are," she said.

There was no immediate response from the Maharashtra government or Satam to Gaikwad's allegations.