Maharashtra Governor tours flood-hit districts; "VIP visits hamper relief efforts," slams Sharad Pawar

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday, July 27, visited flood-affected areas of the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts. Meanwhile, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar accompanied Koshyari.

Soon after the reports of his visit, Pawar took a swipe saying that maybe he will help the state get funds and more compensation from the Central government. He also quipped that Koshyari seems to have taken along people whom he trusts.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is going to visit the flood-affected areas of Raigad and Ratnagiri districts today. The Governor will be visiting the Taliye village and Chiplun during his visit pic.twitter.com/0VobZXePiD

— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2021

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had also visited the flood-affected areas.

Reacting on the same while talking to reporters, Sharad Pawar, "CM, Dy CM and LoP visited flood-affected areas in Maharashtra. I have no objection to it. But my personal experience says that visits by VIPs disrupt rescue and relief operations. People who are not directly linked to relief operations should avoid such visits.”

Heavy rains since July 22 led to flooding and landslides in Maharashtra’s Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts.

According to reports, a total of 207 people have died. As many as 1,028 villages 1.94 lakh residents have been affected.

On Sunday, July 25, Uddhav Thackeray had visited the most flood-affected area Chiplun. He met officials and local representatives to assess the extent of damage and ongoing relief operation. While Ajit Pawar visited various rain-hit villages in the Sangli district on Monday, July 26 and used a rescue boat to reach out to flood victims in some areas.

सांगली जिल्ह्यातील भिलवडी परिसरामधील पूरग्रस्त भागाला, स्थलांतरितांच्या निवारा केंद्रांना भेट दिली. सभोवतालच्या परिसराची पाहणी केली. पूरग्रस्तांशी संवाद साधला; त्यांच्या अडचणी जाणून घेतल्या. पुरग्रस्तांच्या राहण्याची, जेवण्याची सोय कशी आहे ? याबाबत माहिती घेतली. pic.twitter.com/194bqLFdnN

— Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) July 26, 2021