National
Heavy rains batter Mumbai, disrupt life, main runway shut (Roundup)
Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS) Torrential rains battered Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday, disrupting normal life in the country’s financial capital. Flights were badly hit after a private airline skidded on Mumbai airport’s main runway, forcing its closure.
Air India technicians were helping the airport authorities to remove the stuck SpiceJet aircraft to clear the main runway for regular operations. It is expected to open at 6 a.m. on Thursday.
Flights were landing on and taking off from a secondary and shorter runway, leading to huge delays, diversions, go-arounds and cancellations since Tuesday night, officials said.
Since Tuesday night till Wednesday morning, over five dozen flights were diverted to Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Another more than 100 flights, including international ones, were cancelled.
The IMD said Mumbai suburbs recorded a whopping 354 mm rainfall till Wednesday morning, making it the second highest downpour on a single day since the great Mumbai floods when the city experienced 945 mm rains.
The previous high record was on August 29 when Mumbai recorded 316 mm rainfall.
A 22-member Zimbabwe Under-19 team, which was supposed to reach Mumbai on Tuesday, was stuck at the Nagpur airport and later accommodated in hotels.
But Air India passengers stuck in Nagpur faced a harrowing time as the airline could not arrange for sufficient hotel rooms that were booked mostly by private airlines, said an official.
A SpiceJet Boeing aircraft skidded due to the wet runway in Mumbai, triggering a chain of disruptions.
All through Wednesday, heavy rains continued to clobber Mumbai, the entire coastal Konkan region and parts of western and northern Maharashtra, affecting normal life in various cities, towns and villages, for the second time in three weeks.
As a precaution, Education Minister Vinod Tawde announced the closure of all schools and colleges in Mumbai metropolitan region.
Fortunately, the city’s critical lifeline, the suburban trains and the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus services, functioned all day, despite delays.
The IMD, which had forecast heavy and widespread rains in the state till Saturday, revised its predictions for Mumbai and surrounding areas, which can now expect “intermittent rains for next two days in few places”.
Till Wednesday morning, the IMD said Mumbai suburbs received 304 mm rains while the city experienced 210 mm rainfall.
Mumbai’s famed Dabbawalas cancelled their normal delivery of 200,000 tiffin boxes to Mumbaikars on Wednesday.
Several low-lying areas in central Mumbai like Parel and Dadar and some areas of the suburbs like Chembur, Kurla, Andheri, Malad, Borivali and Dahisar experienced water-logging, slowing down the morning office-bound traffic.
In the Konkan region, many towns and villages experienced water-logging in Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Palghar districts, disrupting normal life.
In Nashik, Kolhapur and Pune districts, torrential rains resulted in low-lying areas getting flooded in the major cities and hampering normal movement of people and traffic.
There were reports of over a dozen people going missing, washed away in floodwaters and in the Arabian Sea but there was no official confirmation.
–IANS
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Lucknow: Vishal Singh, a renowned social worker from Lucknow, also known as Foodman, has once again made India proud. He was honored by the Happy Hands Gloves Cooperative Limited Company in Korathai, Thailand, for his work with the Hunger Free World Mission.
The Hunger Free World Mission’s meeting was held in Korathai, Thailand, under Vishal Singh’s leadership. Representatives from several countries, including Mr. Raja Dwivedi (Managing Director of Happy Hands Gloves Limited), Thailand Coordinator Mr. Raja Mishra, and member Mr. Varun Singh, attended the event.
Under Vishal Singh’s leadership, the attendees took a pledge to work together toward creating a hunger-free world.
Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Singh explained that the main goal of the Hunger Free World Mission is social participation. He said the mission is not just about feeding people but also about meeting other basic needs of those who are struggling. The mission focuses on helping families of terminally ill patients in hospitals by providing food and shelter. It also works to fulfill essential needs like education, jobs, and care for the elderly.
For the last 16 years, the Vijay Sri Foundation has been providing free services, benefiting thousands of people. Vishal Singh highlighted that the mission aims to gain global recognition like other organizations such as WHO, WWF, and Red Cross, which work for social causes.
During this meeting, Vishal Singh was appointed as the Chairman of the Hunger Free World Mission by representatives from various countries. They also discussed holding regular meetings in different countries to push the mission forward.
Business tycoon Dr. Abhishek Verma has also supported this humanitarian mission, vowing to promote the idea of “Seva Parmo Dharma” (Service is the highest duty) worldwide. Vishal Singh praised him, stating that people like Dr .Abhishek Verma inspire others to work for the betterment of society.
Recently, Romania’s Ambassador, Mr . Daniela Sezonov Ţane, invited Vishal Singh to the Romanian Embassy in Delhi, where they discussed the mission in detail. Impressed by his humanitarian work, she honored Vishal Singh and invited him to Romania to take the mission forward .
Food man Vishal Singh has been serving the people of India for the past 16 years. Through the Vijay Sri Foundation, he provides free meals to cancer patients & their families ,shelter, and education for women & children along with running free old-age homes in Lucknow.
In addition to his humanitarian work, Vishal Singh also addresses issues like crime and corruption through his role as Chairman of Seva Path Media and Managing Director of Vijay Sri Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vishal Singh and his team worked tirelessly to provide food and help to the needy, including starving children, elderly citizens, and pregnant women. Despite contracting the virus himself, he continued to assist others after his recovery. He even created a life-saving oxygen regulator using household items, which was praised by doctors both in India and abroad.
In his address at the meeting, Vishal Singh spoke about his mission to create a hunger-free world. He pointed out that India’s large population, along with issues like unemployment and poverty, has caused the country to fall on the Hunger Index. He urged people to contribute just one handful of grains daily to help create a hunger-free world.
He concluded by saying that through social participation, we can empower the people around us, meet their basic needs, and work together to build a stronger, more prosperous, and developed society.
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