Even as work on the restoration of the disrupted railway services continued, the state opposition castigated the Congress for ignoring the plight of commuters.
Even as work on the restoration of the disrupted Central Railway services continued, the state opposition on Thursday castigated the Congress governments at the centre and in the state for ignoring the plight of Mumbai’s commuters. The state government plans to run 215 additional buses to clear the rush.
Mumbai’s over eight million suburban train commuters have been facing a harrowing time since Wednesday after train services were curtailed following a fire in the main signal cabin at Kurla station. Work on a fire-ravaged signal network has been taken up on a war-footing, an official said.
The resultant delays, cancellations and overcrowding of the suburban trains led to three commuters's death and caused injuries to 17 others.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told the legislature that the state government was in constant touch with the railway officials since the crisis erupted.
He said instructions were given to the state-owned transport agencies to ply 215 additional buses from various centres in and around the city to clear the commuters' rush.
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Vinod Tawade of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said: “The government does not appear to be concerned about the plight of Mumbai commuters. It is now two days, but the problems (on the Central Railway) are yet to be rectified."
Interacting with the commuters who have been spending more than four hours for a one-way journey which normally takes about one-and-half hour, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray expressed his sympathy for the Mumbaikars.
“No one appears to be concerned about Mumbai,” he said.
Tawade told reporters that despite the entire city suffering since Wednesday, the government seemed to be "sleeping".
There were two guardian ministers, one for Mumbai and another for Thane, but the commuters had been left to fend for themselves against all odds, he said.
“The chief minister (Prithviraj Chavan) and the deputy chief minister (Ajit Pawar), are both in Mumbai but they do not seem to be concerned about the commuters, and have not convened a meeting of the disaster management cell to hammer out solutions,” Tawde said.
He said that though the Indian Railways was under the control of the central government, the state government could do something for the commuters.
“It has been two days now, the problem is yet to be sorted out, even tomorrow (Friday), the commuters will have to suffer in this heat,” he added.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena group leader Bala Nandgaonkar said that when there was a problem, the Mumbai Police and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation should have sent SMS to the Mumbaikars about the problems.
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