A resident of Ashwin Nagar, 70-year-old Ashok Talajiya has been residing at his one-bedroom home on the ground floor of a complex since 2013. He was taken aback over the weekend as heavy rain spells flooded his ground-floor flat.
Talajiya sat in the rainwater near his home from 2:30 PM to 4 PM. “I was drenched and felt shivery but protesting was necessary,” he said.
He is protesting the lack of action by the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) with regard to the cleaning of the nullahs. This, he claims, is resulting in his home flooding within just 30 minutes of rain.
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The issue first surfaced during the 2017 rain spells, Talajiya said. During this time, the flooding at this home affected personal belongings and furniture, resulting in losses worth ₹1.50 lakhs. Although he believed at the time that the flooding was a result of the excessive rains that year, he started to see a pattern when the issue repeated itself a year later.
“The toilet gets flooded first and the sewage water spreads into the entire house,” he said while speaking to TOI. He added that while other ground floor flats in the ‘D’ Wing of the complex do experience flooding, his flat faces the worst consequences given its proximity to the nullah. He accused the VVMC of not cleaning up the nullahs ahead of monsoons.
As a form of protest, Talajiya decided to sit in the waterlogged road with a placard hanging over his neck. The 70-year-old sat through moving vehicles around him. Shortly after, he went home and carried on with his routine.
It’s worth pointing out that Talajiya had submitted complaints to the VVMC on March 30 and April 28, 2021, bringing attention to this particular issue.
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