Panaji mayor in Goa went on a joyride on an imported weeding machine on Sunday.
The mayor Surendra Furtado had invited local journalists to show off the weeding machine Panaji civic body had reportedly imported.
But the machine carrying Furtado, two journalists and four others failed to take the load of too many people and capsized in the nullah.
The mayor, according to IANS, had to be dragged from under the boat, even as all others onboard escaped unhurt but ended up drenched in the sewage-lined water of the creek, swollen by the monsoon torrents.
“I am lucky to survive. It is God’s grace,” Furtado said, after he was pulled ashore by onlookers.
PTI reported that an accident case and a complaint have been filed in connection with Sunday’s incident in which Panaji mayor and some other officials fell into a creek here during a weeding machine demonstration.
While the police here yesterday registered an accident case in the incident, social activist Aires Rodrigues today filed a complaint against Corporation of City of Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado for allegedly acting recklessly, endangering human lives and damaging public property.
The complaint has been filed under sections 280, 287, 304 (A) read with 511 of the IPC and section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act-1984.
A photo-op yesterday turned into a major embarrassment for Furtado, landing him into murky waters literally, when a weeding machine he had climbed on along with other officials during a demonstration in a creek for media-persons turned turtle due to overloading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWdOmJHbMfE
