Mumbai: BMC warns private entities to help in evacuation plan, flooding-prone spots or face imprisonment

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With the monsoon here, BMC has warned the private entities such as transport and food services to help during rains when Mumbai civic body activates its evacuation plan for flooding-prone spots or else they can be punished under the Disaster Management (DM) Act.

The punishment under the Disaster Management Act can lead to imprisonment of up to one year for the person who denies help or a fine for the entity. If failure to comply leads to loss of life, the private entities can be punished with imprisonment for up to two years. The penalty is not fixed yet and will be decided by the civic body as authorised by the district disaster management authority formed under the act. This authority is headed by an additional municipal commissioner.

“These are private transport services in most cases, along with BEST buses. And the food services are mostly non-governmental organisations or food joints. If we need to activate our evacuation plan in any flooding-prone spot, these private entities will be alerted about their job. We will invoke the act to make them comply, if they do not agree,” a senior civic official from the DM department told.