Reacting sharply to the opposition accusation about him 'taking selfies' while inspecting the flood situation, Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan on Friday said that he is working hard to provide relief to affected people and there should not be politics during times of disaster.
Reacting sharply to the opposition accusation about him 'taking selfies' while inspecting the flood situation, Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan on Friday said that he is working hard to provide relief to affected people and there should not be politics during times of disaster.
"A lot of people come and ask me for a selfie, I cannot say no to them. No one is seeing the hard work I am doing, I even went to an area by swimming to help people. This is a very tough time and I am doing everything that is possible to assist in relief operation", Mahajan told ANI.
Jovial and cheerful #Maharashtra Water Resources Minister #GirishMahajan says 'cheese' to click selfies while on a tour of #flood hit areas of #Sangli-#Kolhapur on August 8, attracting flak from the #Opposition and on #socialmedia.#MaharashrtraFloods
— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) August 9, 2019
Video: IANS pic.twitter.com/35RMKrHmlo
1. People in AC rooms unncessarily discussing petty things
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He said that his priority is to help people while some people 'sitting in AC rooms' is unnecessarily discussing petty things. "There should not be politics at this time", he said.
Mahajan also said that he has been in the flood-affected areas of Kolhapur and Nashik since last five days and will be covering more areas for the next three days.
Mahajan has been facing flak after he shared two video clips where he was seen smiling and waving hands cheerfully while surveying parts of the flood-hit district.
2. Opp cries foul
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Earlier in the day, Congress leader Nana Patole had demanded that an FIR should be filed against the minister under Maharashtra Disaster Management law of 2005 for negligence in tackling the disaster situation in the state.
"You must have all seen the video. The minister was seen enjoying while taking the stock of the situation in the flood-affected areas. An FIR should be filed under provisions of Maharashtra Disaster Management law," he said while speaking to ANI.
Several isolated parts of Maharashtra, particularly the Sangli and Kolhapur districts, are in the grip of devastating floods over the last few days following relentless rains in the region. Yesterday, the NDRF team evacuated thousands of people in the flood-ravaged districts.
3. Maha death toll rises to 29
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As heavy rains continued to batter various regions of Maharashtra, twenty-nine people have lost their lives due to floods in Pune division so far.
Around 2.85 lakh people have been displaced due to floods in the state. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has rescued over 3,500 people in Kolhapur so far.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Mumbai has said that there is a very likely enhancement of rainfall over parts of Konkan and central Maharashtra over the next two days.
Twenty-two rescue teams are deployed in Kolhapur, comprising five teams of NDRF, 14 of the Navy, and one each of Coast Guard, Army and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). In Sangli, a total of 11 teams are deployed in which eight are of NDRF, two of Coast Guard and one of Army.
The state has demanded five more NDRF teams to tackle the wrath of floods in the state.
Rescue and relief operations are underway in the rain-affected areas of the state.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had conducted an aerial survey of Sangli and Kolhapur to take stock of the situation. Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, and Eknath Shinde had accompanied Fadnavis.
