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Mumbai, India's Commercial Hub, Disrupted by Monsoon (Update4) July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mumbai, India's financial capital, was paralyzed for a second day as record monsoon rains caused power cuts and forced the closure of the airport and train system, used by about a third of the city's population. The government declared a public holiday. Suburban train services and city buses, the main mass transport system for the city, haven't resumed operations. The Western Railway announced that suburban services would remain suspended until 12:30 p.m. About 6.1 million people ride Mumbai's trains each day, about as many as the number that travels on all of New York City's subways, buses, trains and ferries combined. The trains connect the suburbs to the downtown districts, where the central bank, the Mumbai stock exchange and offices of companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd. are located. The Mumbai stock exchange, which hosts the benchmark Sensex, opened for trading at its usual start time of 9:55 a.m. ``We should be able to run the exchange as most of our staff stayed back in the office,'' Kalyan Bose, spokesman for the stock exchange in Mumbai, had said in a phone interview before trading began. The Maharashtra government announced a public holiday in the state because of the rains, A. Ashtaputre, state government spokesman, said in a phone interview. ``We have declared a public holiday so that people stay home and don't bring vehicles out to the roads,'' Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said in an interview telecast on the NDTV 24x7 news network today. ``Our first job is to rescue people. The whole machinery is geared up and we are trying our best.'' The city received had 660 millimeters of record rainfall, he said. Damage Estimate The state government put the damage at 5 billion rupees ($115 million) as per initial estimates. ``Efforts to restore normalcy are proceeding on a war footing,'' the state government said in a statement translated from Marathi, the local language. ``The government placed as many as 5,000 personnel from the navy, air force and the army on standby to aid efforts.'' Children stranded at schools have been moved to safety, the government said. ``Provisions for drinking water have been made for commuters stranded in trains stuck at stations,'' the government said. ``As many as 10,000 people stuck in flood waters have been moved to safer locations. Stocks of essential commodities such as food and medicines are plentiful.'' Hotels Full Hotel lobbies in downtown Mumbai were crowded last night with people looking for rooms to stay as they were unable to leave the city and stranded workers from nearby offices looked for accommodation. Mumbai airport, India's busiest, has been closed to traffic, said Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the nation's biggest domestic carrier. ``Due to heavy rains, Mumbai airport has been closed till further notice. Reports indicate that the instrument landing system at Mumbai airport is not available,'' Jet Airways said in a statement obtained by fax in New Delhi. ``Thus, all flights to and from Mumbai have been canceled until further notice.'' The airline has diverted 16 flights that were due to land in Mumbai to other destinations. Jet Airways canceled at least six flights from New Delhi bound for Mumbai last night because of the airport shutdown, Saroj Datta, executive director, said in an interview today. Road Traffic Road traffic remained suspended in suburban Mumbai because of flooding, B.D. Parande, a police spokesman said in a phone interview today, preventing travelers from reaching the airport. Phone networks were disrupted because congestion didn't allow calls to be completed. Government, railway and power utility help lines were inaccessible. Heavy rains have been forecast in Maharashtra and the neighboring state of Goa, the Indian Metrological Department said on its Web site. Reliance Industries, India's biggest non-state company, and Tata Steel Ltd., the second-biggest steelmaker, will announce first-quarter earnings today as scheduled. Reliance's board will meet at 12 p.m. local time to sign off on the earnings, spokesman Yogesh Desai said. Tata Steel's board will meet at 11 a.m. local time, spokesman Milind Rege said. Both the companies are based in Mumbai. Bharat Petroleum Corp., India's third-biggest oil refiner, delayed its board meeting by a day, the company said in a statement. The board will meet in New Delhi, the country's capital, tomorrow. Essar, Grasim Essar Steel Ltd., India's fourth-largest steelmaker, might delay its board meeting by a few hours because some directors may have difficulty reaching the company's office in the city, spokesman V. Krishnan said. ``The board meeting is on,'' said Pragnya Ram, spokeswoman for Grasim Industries Ltd., India's third-biggest cement maker, which is scheduled to announce its first-quarter earnings today. ``The office is working.'' YES Bank Ltd., the first new Indian lender in a decade, rescheduled a board meeting to later in the day as two board members couldn't reach Mumbai, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Reliance Energy Ltd., one of two power utilities in the city of 16 million people, yesterday stopped supplies in some waterlogged areas. The utility has restored supply to 60 percent of customers, the company said in a statement this morning. Hindustan Lever More than 150 employees at Hindustan Lever Ltd.'s headquarters in Mumbai stayed back. The company, India's biggest consumer products company and a unit of London- and Rotterdam- based Unilever, has about 400 employees at its main office located in the city. ``The flat on the terrace of our building was opened for stranded employees to stay the night and with a power blackout we switched on generators,'' Paresh Chaudhry, spokesman of Hindustan Lever, said in a telephone interview from Mumbai. ``About 200 employees, half the total strength, are back at their work stations today.'' The Maharashtra government yesterday ordered schools and colleges to remain shut today and tomorrow to house stranded people in the commercial capital of Mumbai. Monsoon rains caused flash floods in areas elsewhere in the western state of Maharashtra, including Pune, a city located about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the commercial hub. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra state. Rainfall in July, which accounts for a third of the June-to- September monsoon rains, was 1 percent above average across the South Asian country, according to the federal weather agency. Rains along the western coast caused mudslides in the coastal and hilly regions of Maharashtra, killing at least 28 people, Suresh Wandile, a state government spokesman, said in a phone interview yesterday. The Central Railway, which links Mumbai to the cities of New Delhi and Kolkata, and runs two of the city's three suburban networks, has suspended the services of 1,203 daily shuttles since 4:15 p.m. yesterday. ``Leave alone the tracks, even platforms are under water in some of the stations on the suburban routes,'' Chandra Sekhar, a Central Railway spokesman, said in a phone interview in Mumbai. ``We can't say when we can resume services. We have to wait for the water level to recede.'' Chandra Sekhar said railway tracks in Kurla, a key railhead that links to the Bandra-Kurla Complex, is under 52 inches (1.32 meters) of water. ``It is impossible to move the rakes when vast stretches of the network is under water,'' Chandra Sekhar said. The National Stock Exchange and ICICI Bank Ltd.'s headquarters, among others, are located at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in the northern suburbs. -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
