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Rahul Gandhi, NCP take BJP to task over Andheri bridge collapse

SNS

(Photo: Twitter/@WesternRly)


Opposition Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders took the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to task over the Andheri bridge collapse that left over five people injured on Tuesday.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP government in Maharashtra over the lack of civic governance in the metropolis which has led to a series of incidents, including the Andheri bridge collapse.

Through a tweet, the 48-year-old Congress chief pointed out the problems in the Maximum City which become conspicuous every year in the monsoon season.

“The streets are flooded, citizens stranded, bridges collapsing…..Civic governance has collapsed,” he wrote in his post aimed at the ruling BJP government in the state led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

“My thoughts are with the citizens of Mumbai. Stay safe! #MumbaiRains,” Gandhi wrote.

 

Maharashtra Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan demanded a high-level probe into the incident which left at least five people injured, with one of them in a serious condition.

Chavan, who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2008 to 2010, criticised the BJP government’s push for bullet train and said that people of Mumbai need a safe travel in local trains.

“The collapse of andheri foot over bridge injuring five people is unfortunate incident. High level probe should be made in this incident and action must be taken against guilty,” the 59-year-old Chavan wrote on Twitter.

“The people of #Mumbai need a safe local train travel and not Bullet Train. #andheribridgecollapse,” said Chavan.

 

Read More: Andheri bridge collapse: Five injured, Piyush Goyal orders inquiry even as blame game ensues

On the other hand, NCP Mumbai president Sachin Ahir tweeted: “Another failure of concerned authorities,#GokhaleBridgeCollapse in #Andheri #Mumbai proves they are not doing their duty towards #Mumbaikars. #ShivSena has let the citizens down again. The watchdogs #BJP are continuing to watch but doing nothing.”

In a response to Kirti Somaiya, the BJP MP from Mumbai North-east, Ahir said that the government should not try to shirk responsibility.

“People do not want to know ‘under whose purview was #AndheriBridge’, they want to know who will take responsibility & make their lives easier. #Hyperloop & #BulletTrains are not the need of the hour,” Ahir said.

 

Somaiya had said in a tweet that a Railway official confirmed to him that the bridge was part of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) Road Bridge.

Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde, said that the government has never taken care of the basic facilities needed for the convenience of the people of Mumbai even though it earns taxes amounting to lakhs of crores from the city.

He also called for a complete review of Mumbai’s suburban railway system.

Read More: Andheri bridge collapse: Harbour Line restored, work in progress on other routes

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, accused the government of not being concerned about the lives of the people of Mumbai. In a tweet posted in Marathi, Patil said that the collapse of the Andheri bridge even after the government had claimed to have surveyed all bridges following the stampede on Elphinstone Bridge is a matter of shock.

He also said that this was not a time for blame-game, referring to the Railways and BMC pointing fingers at each other.

Earlier today, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Maheshwar said, “It was railway’s responsibility to check if the bridge was in good condition. BMC is nowhere responsible for the incident.”

It is noteworthy that the Mayor and the deputy Mayor of Mumbai are both members of Shiv Sena.

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