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- INDIA
It wasn’t more than a forty minute downpour this morning in Gurgaon… But there is water-logging everywhere in this short duration… Traffic jams already and people are finding it even tough to step out of their apartments as there is water lapping against the steps and doors that lead out on to the pavement.
But this is nothing compared to the chaos in Mumbai. The metropolitan city struggled to get back on its feet, with many thousands reaching their homes after being stranded for over 24 hours. Mumbaikars said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India's richest civic body, totally let down citizens, who battled all odds to survive and remain safe or unhurt.
The incessant downpour there has created havoc and thrown everyday life out of gear and literally choked the megapolis. There has been loss of lives and many are still missing – the price one pays for living in a metro is it? People have been left stranded with rainwater gushing down roads and lanes. The relentless rain has disrupted suburban trains, flights, flooded hospitals and paralysed road traffic.
Streets in Mumbai have turned into rivers and people waded through waist-deep waters to reach a place that was dry or safe. Even after 12 years, it became clear in Mumbai that the civic authorities had not learned a single lesson.
Once again the ordinary citizen stepped up and reached out to strangers in distress and those needing help. People opened up their homes and offices – restaurants offered shelter and hot cups of tea and food. The Indian Navy opened community kitchens and food counters at various locations in Mumbai to provide relief to rain-affected people. Schools and colleges remained shut of course in all this bedlam.
The death toll (in and around Mumbai) has risen to 14 with two toddlers among the victims. Renowned gastroenterologist of the Bombay Hospital Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar is missing and suspected to have drowned in an open manhole. The doctor went missing while he was walking towards his residence when it was pouring heavily.
With water logging woes, public transport pains, power cuts, abandoned cars and stranded travellers in one of India’s top cities… There is only one question on everyone’s lips… Where is the city civic body? What is the state government doing? Did the government learn any lessons from the earlier disasters? Certainly not!
Now if this is the scenario in Mumbai…you can imagine how much worse the situation is in Bihar. How would all these districts in Bihar who are coping with the flood misery even manage to survive? Floods in eighteen Bihar districts have claimed 304 lives and affected 140 lakh people. The situation remains grim there.
Lives don’t matter anymore. They don’t make headlines. The Government doesn’t care. What matters to them is saving their own skin…not taking any responsibility of the disasters occurring around them…then passing the buck…feigning ignorance and not doing enough in terms of relief measures. They fall short at every step!
There has been no help from the administration in any of these cases: what happened in Panchkula and neighbouring towns last week during the rapist Ram Rahim’s verdict, the floods in Bihar, the monsoon fury in Mumbai… There has only been one thing constant from all these places – the local authorities and the ruling Governments saying: “We’ve done a good job under the circumstances. We’ve coped very well with the on-going situation. We’ve controlled the situation with minimum possible damage.” These words resonate from every part of the country undergoing turmoil.
As for our leaders – they are happy to sit back and watch the mayhem or shout irrationally on the telly when confronted. Oh no… Wait! President Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh did express concern once again! Hallelujah!
Simply put: It all boils down to… Apathy and state callousness be it Maharashtra, Haryana or Bihar!
(Photographs from the Social Media)
