Rain and waterlogging in Mumbai stall travel plans

PUNE: Ashwin Ranade, who joined a company located in Dadar in Mumbai, a month ago, has been skipping work for the past two days.
“It is a small job and I need to travel each day by train from Pune. The salary doesn’t allow me to get a house on rent for myself in Mumbai. But with many trains getting cancelled, I have had to bunk office for the past few days. I cannot afford a cab and the charges are very high. Fortunately, my employer understands,” Ranade, who is an office attendant, said.





With rain causing havoc across Mumbai, travel plans of many from Pune have been grounded. The worst-hit are those who have jobs in the commercial capital but live in Pune. On Tuesday, the Central Railway cancelled as many as five trains to Mumbai besides diverting two others.

“I work in Mantralaya but have not been able to go to office. It is really difficult for me to spent so much money on cabs and go to my workplace and hence I requested for leave. There are some trains to Mumbai which are operational but coming back will be a problem. With so much rain in Mumbai, you never know when and where you will get stuck,” a middle aged man, who refused to share his name, said.

Representatives of Cool Cab, which runs cab services from Pune to Mumbai said their services were also hit and the passengers were few.

“We have around 150 cabs plying from Pune to Mumbai, and they start from Pune station. On normal days, we have at least 25 to 30 cabs going on the Mumbai route each day. However, due to the rain, the number of passengers has seen a major drop. At present, on an average only 2 to 3 cabs are going to Mumbai from Pune,” the representative told TOI.

Authorities in Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation told TOI that the frequency of buses going from different parts of Pune to Mumbai has decreased.

“Each day, around 250 buses go from Pune to Mumbai. But now we have had to decrease the number by 200. The load factor has also taken a hit. It seems that people really do not want to take any risks due to the rains,” an official of the state transport pointed out.