Nagpur, (The Hindu): Sena claims government has betrayed the trust of people by making false promises, BJP lays blame for waterlogging on ‘record rainfall’ The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came under heavy criticism from the Opposition in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation on Saturday, a day after the city witnessed record rainfall, which resulted in three deaths.

Shiv Sena’s district president Prakash Jadhav said the city had been humiliated and the people betrayed by the BJP, which made big claims of developing the city. He said, “The BJP is in power from top to bottom. They have been ruling the Nagpur Municipal Corporation [NMC] for the past 11 years. This is the home town of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. But a few hours of rain exposed the hollowness of the BJP’s development claims.”

Construction work on cement roads and the Nagpur Metro were hampered by waterlogging and traffic remained stalled in many parts of the city. Mr. Jadhav said, “Where is the development carried out by the NMC and the Public Works Department? Every part of the city was submerged, including schools, houses and hospitals. The common people have faced a lot of difficulties. The BJP is responsible for this. The people of Nagpur will teach them a lesson in the elections.”

Praful Gudadhe, senior Congress corporator, took on the BJP over unplanned development in the city. He said, “The BJP-ruled NMC did not prepare for the monsoon. They only created an illusion of a smart city, gave false hopes and misled people. Whenever you construct cement roads, you plan the drainage lines keeping in mind the maximum rainfall in the last 50 years. You have to design every aspect of the drainage system. The NMC made no such planning.”

Mr. Gudadhe said the NMC was never in such bad shape and held Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Gadkari for its pitiable state. Mayor Nanda Jichkar did not respond to repeated calls from The Hindu.

Meanwhile, Sudhakar Kohale, BJP MLA and Nagpur city president, blamed the city’s problems on the “record rain”. He claimed the roads were waterlogged only for half an hour on Friday. He said, “The city registered maximum rainfall in a day for the first time in 30 years. Shiv Sena’s criticism is baseless. Mumbai gets waterlogged every monsoon, but Nagpur has faced this problem for the first time. Before criticising, they should set their house in order.”

The city did not witness heavy rainfall on Saturday as predicted by the Met department. The district administration, however, has declared a holiday to all schools and colleges in the district as a precautionary measure.