Heavy thunderstorm cools city, but kills 4 & hits traffic

Mumbai: Heaving under above-normal temperatures, the city's prayer for relief was answered on Monday evening. As lightning rippled across the sky and thunder followed, heavy showers that started early in the evening in Kalyan and Thane travelled south, cooling the city. But the spectacle that drew many to the windows also claimed four lives and made travel at the evening peak hours a pain. 

    Mumbai airport had to suspend its flight operations for 20 minutes and local trains ran 10-15 minutes late on all three routes. On the Eastern Express Highway, near Ghatkopar, three cars rammed into each other but no injuries were reported. Areas of Dadar, Sion, Mahim and Malad were waterlogged for a while. 
    In just one hour between 7 and 8pm, the heaviest showers in almost three weeks deposited more than 60mm of rain in several areas like Parel, Sion Koliwada and Marine Lines. Between 7 and 9pm, the island city received an average rainfall of 49.37 mm, the eastern suburbs 25.3 mm and the western suburbs 17.83 mm. 
    Narsingh Lal, a 28-yearold labourer, was crushed while having tea with friends at a stall on J P Road at around 8pm when a coconut tree, uprooted by the strong winds, fell on it. Three other persons, Shreekant Patil and Rajesh Bhoir (both 22) and Alpesh Bhoir (26), were killed instantly on being struck by lightning in Bhiwandi. 
    "We had to divert six flights to Ahmedabad and Vadodara as the airport was closed because of bad weather from 5.11pm onwards," said a Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesperson. 
    The weather department blamed the increase in temperature and humidity during the day for the thunderstorms in the evening. "This is just thunder activity," said V K Rajeev, director of weather forecast, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai. "It's not unusual to have thundershowers, especially since the monsoon has not yet withdrawn from the western coast," he said. The Met department said the maximum temperature at Colaba was33°C and at Santa Cruz 34°C, over 2 degrees above normal. 
    IIT-Bombay professor Kapil Gupta said: "Whenever the heat index (based on temperature and humidity) has exceeded 55, it has been generally accompanied by evening thunderstorms. On Monday, our automatic weather station recorded a temperature of 35.5°C and humidity of 75% at 1.10pm. This made a heat index of 59.6 — the highest since 2006. In addition, there's a low weather system coming in from the Bay of Bengal. A combination of the two resulted in thunderstorms and rainfall in Mumbai and Thane." 
Today's forecast S ince all the moisture in the atmosphere was used up on Monday, heavy rains are unlikely in the next two days. However, occasional light showers may occur in parts of the city and suburbs, said the duty officer at IMD.

SIZZLING SHOT: Lightning carves up the sky over CST on Monday evening

Home minister and city police chief meet senior citizens, at last

Mumbai: Home minister R R Patil and police commissioner Satya Pal Singh finally found time on Monday to launch the adopt-a-senior-citizen scheme. The two were supposed to visit elderly citizens last Wednesday but the plan was cancelled due to political reasons, raising doubts over the seriousness of the scheme. 

    On Monday afternoon, Patil and Singh visited two families of senior citizens in Fort and Nagpada and assured them that the state would do the needful to address issues related to them, particularly security concerns. 
    Following a spate of crimes against senior citizens, Patil had proposed last month that every policeman should adopt a senior citizen. Patil had also said that he, too, would take the responsibility of one elderly citizen. 
    One of the families the duo visited on Monday was that of 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada. The exercise, as it turned out, was marked by much pomp and drama. 
    While a police van was arranged to take journalists to Dholakwala's residence, the minister himself turned up late. He reached the house only at 4.45pm, over an hour after the scheduled time of 3.30pm. Also, before his arrival, more than a dozen cops from the Nagpada police station landed up in Dholakwala's neighbourhood to remove motorcycles and cars parked there. 
    Patil later met Dholakwala and his relatives amid much fanfare. He also gave a bouquet to the 80-year-old and sat with him for 10 minutes. "Our policemen will be coming to your place on a regular basis and you can share your problems with them. We are here to help you," he told Dholakwala. Later, a few more people came to meet Patil and he spent some time with them, too. Singh, meanwhile, instructed senior inspector (Nagpada) Vinayak Saude to solve the problems Dholakwala had been facing. 
    Before going to Nagpada, Patil visited another senior citizen's family in Fort. "Today, the world is observing International Senior Citizens' Day. The state will take care of its elderly citizens. The children of many such people go to other places to study and work and the senior citizens are left alone. Our policemen will help them in every possible way," said Patil. 
    The minister said he would meet one elderly couple every month. "The policemen will also help the senior citizens maintain records of their domestic help," he added. "I will talk to the law and judiciary department to try cases of violence against senior citizens in fast-track courts." 
    Dholakwala, whose two sons are in Dubai and Thane, said: "Patil's meetings with senior citizens should be appreciated. This is a good initiative, one that will help create confidence among the elderly." 
Civic plan for elderly 
    The civic body on Monday declared a policy for senior citizens. Under this, every ward will have a recreation centre for the elderly. The BMC will also give preference to senior citizens by providing halls if they want to organize a programme. There will also be a help desk and helplines especially for the elderly in all civic hospitals. Mayor Sunil Prabhu said suggestions would be discussed in the general body meeting and incorporated in six months. TNN

HELPING HAND: Home minister R R Patil and city police chief Satya Pal Singh with 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada on Monday