Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday announced in the State Assembly that a high-level investigation into the wall collapse incident at Malad in North Mumbai will be launched. He also announced ₹5 lakh ex-gratia to the family members of victims. He has also requested the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to extend an additional financial aid of ₹5 lakh.
Eighteen people died and 75 were injured in Malad incident, he informed, adding that 14 people were discharged.
Talking about the Pune incident in which a tree fell on an old wall, killing six people, Mr. Fadnavis said all necessary assistance would be given to the victims, who are from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Commenting on the Mumbai rain, Mr. Fadnavis said that it was the second-highest rainfall in 40 years and higher than the average rainfall of June.
“In Mumbai, the usual rainfall in 24 hours is 115 mm but when it exceeds that, there is an additional burden on machinery. Seven projects are to be completed under the Brihanmumbai Stormwater Disposal System to tackle flushing out of water during high tide. Under this project, work on five pumping stations has been completed and some work is halted for lack of permission, as court cases are involved. Two projects are still pending and once the issue is sorted out, waterlogging will go down substantially,” he said.
Mr. Fadnavis said the government was working on a war footing to remove encroachments on Mithi river and also on nallahs, which will help in their widening. He also instructed the BMC to form a policy for nallah cleaning and finish the task within a time frame.
