Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced an inquiry into the incident of waterlogging inside the Nagpur legislative building on Friday, which led to the power outage and adjournment of both Houses.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil raised the issue during question hour. “Nagpur suffered due to waterlogging on Friday. The rain also proved how fake the claims of nullah cleaning were, and an inquiry must be held against officers involved,” Mr. Vikhe-Patil said.

The Opposition leader pointed out that beer bottles were found on the campus. “The government’s disaster management was actually disastrous management.”

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar questioned the need to hold session in Nagpur with inadequate preparations. “Officers’ residences were flooded, with no electricity. Even a snake was spotted in a minister’s bungalow. What is happening? Who is responsible for this?”

“The present CM was the mayor of Nagpur. Minister Nitin Gadkari represents Nagpur. But despite that the city has been suffering,” he said.

Mr. Fadnavis said Nagpur on Friday received 282mm rain, the highest in 24 hours in the last 20 years. “Of this, 263mm rain was in just six hours. This was unprecedented in the history. We accept that there has been losses following rain and surveys have been conducted. The people affected by heavy rain in the city will also be compensated,” he said.

Both the Assembly and the Council were adjourned for the day, shortly after convening, due to a power blackout caused by rain. The power supply had been turned off after the switching centre was flooded.

The CM said the power supply was turned off to prevent short-circuit. “Waterlogging occurred due to the ongoing construction works. Disaster management was activated. The police helped people affected by rain on July 6.”

Mr. Fadnavis said the inquiry will find the loopholes in the maintenance of the legislative building. “Strict action will be taken against the guilty after the inquiry.”

(
With PTI inputs
)

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