Villagers residing in the new airport belt perform early visarjan owing to heavy flooding; accuse officials of selective help
With water levels rising, locals were forced to immerse their Ganpati idols days before scheduled immersion
Bappa left earlier than scheduled from many villages in Navi Mumbai owing to heavy flooding in the region on Wednesday. Many devotees immersed their Ganesh idols that had arrived for a five or 10-day stay as their homes submerged under the floodwater. As many as 35 Ganesh murtis were unwillingly immersed in the Pargao, Dungi and Bhangaroada villages on Wednesday.
This was the third flood in the last two months in this belt owing to the Ulwe river diversion and landfilling currently underway for the Navi Mumbai airport. Dungi being the last village on CIDCO's list of villages to be uprooted, its residents were on Tuesday shifted to a school at Karanjade village in Chinchpada. Five other villages were conveniently ignored by all authorities including the tahsildar and CIDCO, villagers alleged.
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Mahendra Patil of Pargao village, said that the villagers weren't even informed of a heavy rain situation in advance nor was any help sent their way. "Around 100 houses here were under 4 to 5 feet water for almost two days," he said.
"The festival is very dear to us and Lord Ganesha is almost like a family member when he is here. We, therefore, stayed in our homes until Tuesday night with 1-2 feet water inside our homes but it went up to 4 feet on Wednesday. We saw CIDCO, tahsildar and NDRF officials evacuating Dungi villagers but they said they didn't have the orders to help other villages," Patil narrated.
The villages also had their power cut off for two days, leaving them without any means of communication.
Chief Engineer (Navi Mumbai International Airport) R B Dhayatkar said, "I am on leave for Ganesh festival at my home, I can't tell you about this matter."
While additional chief land officer remained unavailable for comment, tahsildar Amit Sanap did not respond to calls or messages.
35
No. of visarjans done on Wednesday in the belt
Also Read: Mumbai rains: Seasonal rainfall crosses 3000 mm mark
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