One drowned as boat carrying Maharashtra chief secretary capsizes off Mumbai coast

A 35-year-old political activist from Shiv Sangram Party, part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, died on Wednesday evening after the boat in which he was travelling capsized nearly 2.5 km off the Mumbai coast. Siddhesh Pawar was part of a delegation of political activists, government officers (state chief secretary DK Jain was one of the boats), and media personnel that was on its way to conduct a “Bhumi Puja” or commencement ceremony of the Rs 3826 crore Shiv Smarak or the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial, which, when completed in 2021 will be 212 metres (696 feet) tall. Larsen and Toubro, the state government appointed contractor, was to start work on construction of breakwater as the first step. Shiv Sangram Party chief Vinayak Mete heads the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Smarak Prakalp Samanvay Samiti, appointed by the state government to coordinate the implementation the project. It was he who had organised the function and invited party workers. The project is slated to be built on reclaimed land in the Arabian Sea, off Malabar Hill in south Mumbai. Apart from the statue and a pedestal, the memorial will have a temple, a museum, a hospital, and a theatre showcasing highlights from the Maratha warrior king’s life. Five boats, organised from a private operator by the state government, were being used to ferry the delegates. Initial reports said Jain was in the capsized boat, but he later clarified that he was in another vessel. Each boat, according to people travelling in them, had between 18 and 20 persons. Srinivas Jadhav, personal secretary to Maharashtra’s revenue and public works department minister Chandrakant Patil, was on the capsized boat. “We were on the way to the puja when our boat hit something at high speed, and the hull was breached,” he told HT. Balasaheb Jatal Patil, an activist of Shiv Sangram Party from Beed district, said, “There were nearly 20 people on the boat. It was not overloaded, but it was travelling at high speed. As soon as it hit something water began to gush in. We were in knee-deep water in no time.” Jadhav called the Peasants and Workers Party leader Jayant Patil to arrange for rescue boats. Patil owns PNP Maritime Services, which runs ferry services between Mumbai and Alibaug on the Konkan coast, 95 km south of Mumbai. He told HT, “Public Works Department minister Chandrakant Patil’s personal secretary called me for help. Two of my company’s boats rushed to the spot near the Prongs Reef lighthouse and rescued the stranded passengers. The PWP leader said the “boats were overcrowded” and that “the sailors were not wearing life jackets.” Source: Hindustan Times