A photo of a drowned mother holding on to her little child in Maharashtra has gone viral drawing scathing criticism for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In the viral photo, a dead mother is seen lying on the floor while holding on to her little child, who also died after their boat reportedly capsized in Sangli on Thursday.
The photo, according to journalist Amey Tirodkar, was from Sangli, one of the worst-hit areas of Maharashtra by devastating floods. Tirodkar wrote, “You may call me insensitive for putting this photo. today’s pic from Sangli flood where boat overturns and people lost their lives. I am putting this as it is devastating proof of failure of Devendra Fadnavis government in disaster management. Maharashtra’s most insensitive CM.”
Journalist Sakshi Joshi too agreed as she wrote, “Oh my god… Cant hold my tears… The mother continued to save her child until her death. She lost her life but did njot leave her child. @Dev_Fadnavis u have failed maharashtra’s people. U have let them die. All of u must learn something from #NaveenPatnaik
We are not reproducing Tirodkar’s tweet since the photo in question is too graphic in nature. According to the Indian Express, at least 10 persons drowned and seven more were missing after a boat capsized during a rescue operation near Brahmnal village in Palus taluka of Sangli district on Thursday morning.
Kolhapur and Sangli are the two worst-affected districts continuing to remain cut-off from the rest of the state. According to some media reports, around 50,000 people are still believed to be stuck. The highway connecting Pune to Bengaluru continues to remain shut due to waterlogging with about 4-5 feet of water blocking about 5000 trucks in a queue on the road.
Incessant rainfalls have made the flood situation in the Krishna River and its tributary, Koyna quite alarming.
Fadnavis recently conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas of Maharashtra, but critics believe that his response has been too little and too late. Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole, according to news agency ANI, has demanded the filing of an FIR against Chief Minister Fadnavis and other ministers under Maharashtra Disaster Management law of 2005, for negligence in tackling the disaster situation in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, authorities have also issued a red alert in nine districts in North and Central Kerala. This was after six bodies were recovered from Wayanad as a result of a landslide. The Indian Navy has opened its airbase at Cochin for the operation of civil flights. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted, “Heavy rain has increased across most parts of the State. Red alert has been issued for 9 districts in North and Central Kerala, 3 districts in Central Kerala are under Orange alert and remaining 2 southern districts are issued yellow alert.”
As many as 22 people have lost their lives in Kerala as a result of the devastating floods.
In neighbouring Karnataka too, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa conducted an aerial survey of Ghataprabha and Malaprabha river basin to take stock of the flood-affected regions.