The death of a 60-year old man who fell into an open manhole in Mumbai has become a political rift between Shiv Sena and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with Shiv Sena demanding the resignation of BJP Mayor Ritu Tawde.
Shiv Sena Deputy Mayor Dr Sanjay Ghadi singled out Mayor for the incident, claiming no measures were taken as open manholes had been regularly warned about throughout the city.
The Mayor was apprised of the manhole situation, but he took no action. She has to step down, Ghadi said, but added that the civic body was responsible for the tragedy as it failed to stop it.
The Deputy Mayor also fingered BMC commissioner Ashwini Bhide and asked for her resignation, thereby accusing BMC administration of the alleged negligence, as well.
The skirmishes have ushered in strife in the BJP-Shiv Sena front government at the BMC. Both parties had been negotiating lengths during the civic elections earlier this year before they reached a compromise regarding power sharing in which the BJP got the Mayor’s job and the Sena that of the Deputy Mayor.
Shiv Sena MP Milind deora also lashed out at the civic administration, dubbing the incident as a ‘preventable tragedy’. Repeated directions from the Bombay High Court on taking precautions against open manholes and road safety issues had missed their mark, asking how many more lives will be lost before the civic authorities start making safety a priority, he asked.
That incident has now rekindled the anxiety about public safety, civic infrastructure and accountability in the functioning of the city’s municipal administration.