Mumbai continues to reel under deluge fury

Incessant rains continued to lash Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra today, paralysing rail, road and air traffic. People were moved to safer places in view of water discharge from overflowing dams, even as the toll in the state touched 924.

With the city receiving continuous rainfall since Sunday, normal life in Mumbai came to a standstill as several low-lying areas were submerged, affecting road traffic.

Traffic was disrupted with water logging in low-lying areas of the city, including Hindmata, Sion, Kurla, King's Circle, Wadala, Kalina, SV Road, Khar, Milan Subway and Dahisar, the police said.

Suburban rail services on the Central and Harbour routes were also affected with trains running only between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Kurla. On the Western route, trains were moving between Churchgate and Virar at a slow speed as the tracks had flooded, a railway spokesperson said.

Schools, colleges and educational institutions remained closed as the state government declared a holiday.

Air traffic from the city was delayed due to poor visibility at the airport. Air-India, Indian Airlines and Jet Airways have decided to waive cancellation fee in view of the continued disruption of air traffic.

An Air-India spokesperson said the fee of $125-150 charged on cancellation or rebooking for travel from India to the US and Europe has been waived.

Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, announced that it will operate two day flights into and out of Mumbai.

"Flight SQ 421 will leave Mumbai at 4 pm, arriving at Singapore at 11.20 pm while the second flight SQ 423 will depart from Mumbai at 6 pm, arriving at Singapore at 1.30 am the next day," an airlines statement said.

Auto major, Fiat India said its manufacturing operations at Kurla were severely affected due to the inclement weather conditions and that an assessment of damages was still under way.

The company said in a statement from New Delhi that it has made efforts to supply spare parts to affected customers on time. The statement said the company has set up special commercial communications centres for dealers and customers to avail of spare parts and cars on time.

"Starting from Monday, we are restoring the shipment of spare parts, cleaning up the backlog of request of the last few days," the company statement said.

In Mumbai, there was thin attendance in Reserve Bank of India and other banks.

At the BSE 30 per cent of the staff reported for duty but operations were normal.

A red alert has been sounded in Pune and over 2000 people living in low-lying areas along the banks of Mutha and Mula rivers were shifted to safer places as a precautionary measure.