Rains put Maharashtra in distress mode
Politics in Uttar Pradesh has never been as fragile as it is now. A statement, an action has acquired the power to change political permutations, mar social equations and even, perhaps, build new ones in the months to come. When expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh made a derogatory comment against BSP supremo Mayawati, little did he know that it would wipe off all the efforts that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had made over the months to win over Dalits in UP — efforts that included paying tributes to Ambedkar at every function and sharing a meal with Dalits.
Even as the BJP was lamenting the loss of Dalits, the BSP began rejoicing at the opportunity it had got to retrieve lost ground by camouflaging the remark as an insult to the community. Almost overnight, the BSP managed huge crowds to stage a protest and political pundits happily heralded the “return of BSP”. Then it took exactly one hour for the BSP’s return to be stopped in the tracks. Slogans raised against Dayashankar’s wife, sister and minor daughter may have been an outburst of Dalit rage, but it also put the upper castes on the offensive. Within a few hours, the BSP had risen and fallen. The impact of upper caste angst was so palpable that Mayawati air dashed to Lucknow and cancelled the party’s next protest. Mayawati, for the first time in her political career, called upon “bhatija” Akhilesh Yadav to avenge her humiliation and ensure the arrest of the expelled BJP leader. Akhilesh Yadav promptly accepted her request and Dayashankar was arrested.
This softening of stand towards each other put political watchers on the alert and talks of a secret nexus between the SP and BSP — sworn enemies since 1995 — started doing the rounds.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party government was apparently smug over the fact that the losers were mainly the BSP, which had lost upper caste sympathies, and the BJP which had lost its Dalit support. But sweeping gusts of wind do not spare onlookers either. Mohd Azam Khan, in a well calculated move (he has been smarting ever since his bête noire Amar Singh returned to the SP and has been looking for an opportunity to display his nuisance value), issued a statement saying that the Bulandshahar highway rape case was a political conspiracy.
The statement drew wide condemnation and left the BSP smarting in one corner, while the focus turned firmly on the SP and BJP battle. A day later, BJP spokesman I.P. Singh retaliated with another horror — “Azam Khan will know what rape means if his wife and daughter are subjected to such treatment”. Before the war could reach a crescendo, Dayashankar’s wife Swati Singh returned centrestage to tell the world that the SP government had slapped Posco Act on three BSP leaders, but had spared Naseemuddin Siddiqui, bringing attention back to the growing bonhomie between the SP and BSP. Political observers feel that after 21 years of intense hostility, any such bonhomie between the SP and BSP could tear apart the social fabric, damage both the parties and lead to renewed caste tensions since OBCs and Dalits are no longer compatible, though their leaders may be. In this cauldron of confusion, statements are being whirled around and political leaders are looking on with stupefied silence. Maharashtra went into distress mode last week due to incessant and heavy rains lashing many parts of the state through most of the week. The worst tragedy was the late night collapse of the 100-year-old MahadPoladpur bridge over river Savitri in Raigad district on 2 August. Many hill stations and tourist destinations have been shut down in the state as a precautionary measure. Structural audits of some of the old bridges have been reordered. Mumbai, too, witnessed heavy rainfall. Train stations and low-lying areas experienced flooding, creating misery for those travelling by road. Train services had to be discontinued for some time on Friday. This left thousands of passengers including office-goers stranded.
Air traffic was affected due to poor visibility. In other parts of Maharashtra too, continuous rainfall led to filling up of dams. “Continuous discharge of water due to heavy rains, from upstream dams in Nashik, Ahmednagar, have led to a rise in water levels. Heavy rains have led to a rise in water level in Jayakwadi reservoir in Marathwada region. Nearby villages have been inundated,” local reports stated.
Nashik faced floods due to heavy rainfall and the opening of Gangapur dam’s doors. The flood situation took three lives. Many parts of the city were submerged in the water. NDRF teams were deployed to carry out rescue operations. The Pune-Lavasa road has been closed due to landslides. Heavy rainfall has also affected other tourist hotspots like Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala, Sinhagad. Pune’s Bhide bridge was closed for traffic after cracks were found on it. The structural audit of some old bridges has been ordered by the state administration. Eknath Shinde, Guardian Minister of Thane district, ordered the immediate structural audits of all the bridges in Thane district.
In one of the worst accidents in Maharashtra, an old bridge over Savitri caved in, taking with it several vehicles. The vehicles plunged into the raging waters of Savitri in Mahad at midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. An employee of a transport company who witnessed the vehicles disappear from the bridge, raised an alarm and ran to stop other vehicles from heading towards that direction. His presence of mind stopped a graver trag- edy. “I had my dinner, and I was talking to my family on phone. As I came near the window, I saw vehicles’ headlights disappear half-way on the bridge. So I ran along with another person,” he told local reporters. By that time, some vehicles had a narrow escape after the drivers decided to turn back from the bridge sensing something was wrong. At the time of the accident, it was pitch dark and it was raining heavily.
Nearly 10 vehicles are feared to have drowned in the river. The ferocity of the river can be imagined by the fact that one of the dead bodies were found 120 km from the accident spot. The vehicles, including two state transport buses, are still being traced by incessantly-working teams of Indian Air Force, Coast Guard, National Disaster Response Force, district administration and local divers. The state has announced exgratia help of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has announced a judicial inquiry into the matter. “We have deputed a team of three experts from IIT, Mumbai for preliminary study. This team has already begun its work,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. The team includes water expert Jyoti Prakash, structural expert Jangid, and geothermal expert V.S. Vasudevan.
The issue is grave because the bridge was cleared and deemed “road-fit” in a structural audit conducted two months ago. The British government had written to the Maharashtra government two years ago declaring that the bridge’s safety can no more be guaranteed. It was constructed by the British nearly 100 years ago. Local reports have said that there are 35 such old British-period bridges on the Mumbai-Goa “killer road”. The highway has been dubbed as a killer road since the two-laned narrow road has gutted many lives in horrid accidents for years now.