Friday’s rain brings back memories of 2005 deluge
Municipal Corporation accused of corruption as Rs 2,000 cr monsoon preparations fail to adequately protect city from water -logging.
Over 3,000 students from Haryana may lose three critical years, if the Punjab and Haryana High Court rules against them in a case against the state’s education board, which demoted them from Class XI to Class IX after their certificates were found to have been forged.
The Haryana Board of School Education demoted the students after it found that the school leaving certificates (SLC) submitted by these students while seeking admission to Class IX were fake. The students had passed the Class X examination under the Haryana Open School category in 2013 and had been promoted to Class XI. The school board cancelled the Class X results and directed the schools where these students studied to register criminal cases against them for forgery.
“You are informed that the competent authority in the board has taken a decision to get an FIR registered within 15 days against those students who had submitted false SLCs/TCs to take admission in your school for class 10. The copy of the FIR must be sent to the board office at Bhiwani,” the board wrote, adding, “If the procedure is not followed by you, an FIR will be registered against the school presuming connivance of the schools and action will be taken according to the board’s regulations.”
Representatives of the affected schools and students met senior officials and political leaders, but no respite seemed in sight, so they moved the court. Their argument is that that students stand to lose three years, which could jeopardise their futures. Some students claim that one does not actually need a Class IX certificate to take the matriculations exams, which renders the question of authenticity of the certificates redundant. In any case, they ask why the board took so long to act on the matter.
Education officials say that an offence is an offence, and that they cannot ignore it now that they have detected the forgery.
Meanwhile, the High Court has allowed the students to continue their studies until the next hearing, in mid-August. The board officials have agreed not to press for a criminal case until then.
The heavy rainfall on 19 June left many lowlying parts of Mumbai submerged in water, and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and is facing flak from the Mumbaikars who say it has done a shoddy job.
Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said on Saturday that the body was better prepared a day later. MCGM, the richest municipal corporation in the country, recently spent over Rs 2,000 cr for monsoon preparations. “I can’t give knee-jerk reactions. I will have to give a studied response. As of now, we are dealing with the situation,” Mehta told The Sunday Guardian when asked if any punitive action will be taken against contractors who had failed to do their work properly.
At many locations, residents complained of shoddy desilting and cleaning of drains. The disaster relief control room of the MCGM received over 5,000 calls on Friday. There were 160 complaints of water logging. The situation improved on Saturday, when only 25 complaints of water logging were registered.
After a brief respite until Saturday afternoon, rain resumed by early evening. The forecast says heavy rainfall could continue through Saturday night. “We don’t expect very heavy rain on Sunday,” a weather official said.
On Saturday, a 65-year old woman died after her house in Chembur collapsed. A 40year old man died in Santa Cruz after a tree collapsed on his autorickshaw.
A drainage labourer is feared dead after he went missing while cleaning a drain in Khar. “He was not a municipal labourer. He was engaged by a contractor to clean the drain. The search mission is still on,” an official said.
In all, 108 fallen trees were reported in the city on Saturday.
“My team is putting in their best effort. My staff is on the street, trying to clear up the roads. Yesterday was a day of unprecedented rainfall. We received 10% of our annual rainfall within just five- six hours. High tide added to the problems,” Mehta said.
Questions are being raised about the crores allegedly spent on building new pumping stations which were expected to help keep low-lying areas from being submerged. Many lowlying areas in Lower Parel, Elphinstone Road, Mahim and Kings Circle saw phenomenal water- logging. Water entered houses and electricity supply had to be cut to avert tragedies.
On Friday morning, a 60year old man and his grandson were killed after accidentally coming in touch with water that carried electric current from their building’s metre room.
The Congress and the NCP accused the Shiv Sena of cor- ruption, alleging it gave contracts worth crores of rupees to contractors who failed to deliver. Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray was quick to shrug off the criticism. He tried to blame the state-run MMRDA for the deluge. The Sena had to cancel its 50th anniversary celebrations on Friday, due to the rains.
Friday’s rainfall, which brought the city to a grinding halt, reminded people of the 2005 deluge. Though the rainfall this time was much lower, environmental activists said it was just a trailer of what the city will face for not learning from past mistakes.
“Nature gives us rainfall, which the earth needs to survive. Mud on the earth must get water. This nourishes the soil and infuses life into it, which supports flora and fauna alike. The excess flows into the rivers and transports water to regions that need it. It meets the sea and helps keep coastal lands free from salinity intrusion. But for the government and the planners, development means covering every square foot with cement and concrete, blocking the winds, destroy trees, reclaiming water bodies and wetlands and so on. Foolish environmentalists like me oppose such development. Mumbai is a city that is looted by the administration and people are happy to be looted,” rued Stalin Dayanand, convenor of Vanshakti, “It was said after the 2005 rains that lessons were learnt! Who learnt what lessons is a mystery.”