Mumbai mess, Delhi dismal!

As the ordinary citizen struggled through a manic Monday in Mumbai where flooding and relentless rainfall brought little respite political party slugfests intensified during and in the aftermath The political punching and counterpunching are sure to continue as the meteorological department has predicted heavy rain through the week and an incessant downpour may result in challenges once againRaining wordsIt is not just raining from the heavens but raining words from political parties too The most trenchant criticism has come from the Aam Aadmi Party AAP here The AAP has criticised the BJPShinde Sena Maharashtra Government for the flooding situation in Mumbai Party spokespersons slammed ldquoThe BJP is singularly responsible for the floodrelated mess in Mumbai BJP is in power at all three levels in Mumbai Centre State and BMC BMC is functioning without public representation for over two years now BJP rules BMC by proxyrdquoSafety jeopardisedPreeti Sharma Menon Mumbai President AAP said ldquoThis is not about stormwater drain capacity being overwhelmed by a climate emergency this is about sheer incompetence and corruption on the part of the BMCrdquo The AAP added that the ldquoThe first to be adversely affected by floods are the poor and those who live in slums The BJP has jeopardised the safety of millions of Mumbaikars and the inundation of the financial capital with a few hours of rain is a testament to itrdquoPhoto opsCalling the BMC administration ldquorotten to the corerdquo Ruben Mascarenhas Mumbai Working President AAP Mumbai asked ldquoWhat happened to those pumping stations inaugurated with much fanfare What happened to the premonsoon storm water drainnullah cleaning by the BMC and the photo ops by CM Shinde Fadnavis and Ashish Shelarrdquo he asked and signed off ldquoMumbai deserves betterrdquoCriticism easyThen BJP spokesperson Shaina NC hit back stating ldquoWe have seen in the past that whenever there has been incessant rain there has been waterlogging at certain spots like Sion Hindmata Parelhellip etc This is the first time that there has not been that kind of situation We need to appreciate the efforts taken by the Mahayuti Sarkar administration the agencies the NDRF Air Force and Navy all working in collusion with the BMC to ensure that 481 pumping stations were working The easiest thing to do is to criticiserdquo she signed off stronglyCapital failureNiranjan Laxman Shetty chief spokesperson of BJP Mumbai said in a stinging retort ldquoAAP needs to first introspect about their mishandling of the Delhi administration Mumbai is affected due to heavy rains and waterlogging happens but the BJP was never at the helm of the affairs in the municipal corporation Whenever the BJP came into power in the State or Centre it helped the Mumbai Municipal Corporation in building or constructing the Stormwater Disposal SystemrdquoFuturistic approachHighlighting the state governmentrsquos visionary approach Shetty added that the ldquoState government has informed the municipal corporation to mandatorily include rainwater harvesting concept while sanctioning new building plans This helps in saving water as well the use such water for nonpotable purposesrdquoShetty explained ldquoMumbairsquos drainage system is more than 100 years old The capacity of most of these drains is around 25mm of rain per hour during low tide Most drains are choked due to garbage dumping BJP will look into this problem and whenever they come into power in the corporation will try for a solution to a decadesold problemrdquo As for AAP he said ldquoThey need to look at the Capitalrsquos administration where they have failed miserablyrdquo