Heavy rain in parts of Mumbai amid 'orange' alert
Mumbai, Jul 19 (PTI) Heavy rains lashed parts of Mumbai on Wednesday morning and the weather department has issued an 'orange' alert for the city, predicting heavy to very heavy showers at some places during the day.
Train services on the Panvel-Belapur Harbour Line route were affected to a "point failure" at Panvel at 9.40 am, Central Railway's chief public relations officer Shivraj Manaspure said.
The official said train services on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Belapur route were running.
Many commuters of the Central railway claimed the trains were running 10-15 minutes late.
The Western Railway authorities said their services were normal.
There was no report of any major water-logging early in the morning, a civic official said.
Bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking were running as per their proper routes and there was no diversion, a civic official said.
The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Mumbai centre on Tuesday issued an 'orange' alert for Mumbai and Thane districts, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places on Wednesday.
It issued a 'red' alert for neighbouring Raigad and Palghar districts, forecasting heavy to very rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places.
A civic official said the IMD Mumbai in its daily weather forecast predicted "heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs with a possibility of very heavy rainfall at a few places" in the next 24 hours.
There will be a high tide of 4.23 meters in the sea at 1.23 pm, as per the local civic body.
The island city, eastern and western suburbs received an average rainfall of 47.42 mm, 50.04 mm and 50.99 mm, respectively, in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am Wednesday, officials said.
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Kurla BEST bus accident: Man succumbs to injuries, toll rises to 8
Mumbai (PTI): A 55-year-old man, who was among the several persons injured in the BEST bus accident in Kurla area here, died on Monday morning, taking the death toll to eight, a civic official said.
The electric bus, hired by the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking on wet-lease basis, ploughed into a crowd and fatally knocked down seven persons and injured 42 others on a crowded road in Kurla area on December 9.
Several vehicles were also damaged in the incident. One of the injured persons, identified as Fazlu Rehman, died during treatment at the Sion Hospital on Monday morning, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. BEST has set up a five-member committee to investigate the Kurla accident. Driver Sanjay More (54) is in police custody for alleged reckless driving.
In a statement issued last week, BEST said a committee, headed by Chief Manager (Transport) Ramesh Madavi, will investigate the accident. It also said that BEST would provide Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives and bear treatment expenses of the injured.
BEST administration has claimed that More received three days' training before he was allowed to drive the electric bus. RTO officials suspect human error and lack of proper training for driving automatic transmission buses could be the reason behind the accident, among the most horrific involving BEST buses in recent history.
