Troubles for Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado, who met his Waterloo of sorts on Sunday, by falling into a sewage-lined creek with six others during a monsoon de-weeding exercise, appear to have increased with the police filing a criminal case against him for the accident.
On Sunday, Furtado had invited media to cover the de-weeding operations at the St. Inez creek, which was swollen with sewage and rainwater and lined with weeds and garbage. The Mayor then got both media persons and municipal officials onboard the de-weeding boat, which within minutes caved in under the additional weight of the inspection party and capsized, sweeping the party of seven, including the mayor, off the deck and into the sewage.
“We have filed a complaint of causing accident against the mayor,” Police Inspector Panaji Siddhant Shirodkar said.
The mayor also faces another complaint filed by social activist Aires Rodrigues, who in his complaint, alleged that it was Furtado's negligence which led to the incident.
“The incident happened when the weeding machine, mounted on the vessel turned turtle on account of the weight imbalance, which occurred due to Surendra Furtado and others, despite them being warned against boarding the vessel. All seven persons on the vessel fell into the murky water as a result of overloading and the machine, which was engaged by the Corporation of City of Panaji, was also damaged,” Rodrigues stated in his complaint filed in the Panaji Police station.
The complaint has been filed under sections 280, 287, 304 (a) and 511 of the Indian Penal Code. Furtado, however claims that the whole incident was an accident and that he considers himself lucky to have survived.
“I am lucky to survive. It is God's grace… Blame should not be on anybody. Accidents do happen. Now when I am going home on the road I can meet with an accident. Nothing is deliberate,” Furtado told The Pioneer on Monday, after the video of him slipping and falling into the sewage went viral on social media.