Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned for an hour on Friday as electricity supply had to be turned off following rains in Nagpur city.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned for an hour on Friday as electricity supply had to be turned off after the switching centre that provides power to Vidhan Bhavan premises was flooded following rains in Nagpur city.
The city witnessed heavy rains from last night, which resulted in water logging at several places. Since the switching centre which supplies power to Vidhan Bhavan was flooded, the power supply had to be shut down for safety purposes.
As soon as the House assembled for the day at 10 am, Speaker Haribhau Bagde announced that power had to be turned off due to closure of the switching centre. It was adjourned till 11 am.
Nagpur received 163 mm rains in just 3 hours today, Skymet Weather said.
"Many cities of Vidarbha region have recorded hefty Monsoon rains during the past few hours. Nagpur has recorded extremely heavy three digit rain to the tune of 163 mm in just 3 hours," the weather agency said.
Vidhan Bhavan premises was also flooded with people walking in knee-deep water.
Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling BJP, was quick to criticise the government over waterlogging and power cut.
"Had this happened in Mumbai, there would have been a barrage of criticism against the Sena-run Mumbai civic body.
Everybody would have demanded an inquiry against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)," Shiv Sena group leader in the house, Sunil Prabhu, told reporters.
"Nagpur is the second capital of the state and an important city. Nagpur Municipal Corporation is run by the BJP. It should have provided basic infrastructure to ensure rains don't obstruct the proceedings of the legislature session," he added.
Prabhu said the area where all ministerial bungalows and residential quarters of legislators are located is also flooded.
NCP MLA and former minister Bhaskar Jadhav said, "This government is fully exposed. It decided that the monsoon session will be held in Nagpur. Shouldn't it make all the arrangements to put the disaster management systems in place." Energy Minister Chandrashekar Bawankule said it was for the first time that rains had affected the legislature proceedings in such a manner. "This happened because maybe the drainage was not cleaned," he said.
"The switching centre had to be closed to avoid any technical problem which would have led to hazardous situation.
Water level is receding and we hope the situation will be normalised," he said.
The minister said there was power supply in the rest of the city.
"We were not sure if generators can take the entire load of Vidhan Bhavan premises," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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 "Flooded Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha premises following rains in Nagpur")
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