BMC gets a raincheck

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) tall claims of preparedness for the monsoons have been exposed in the wake of the first heavy rains in the city.

On Monday night, several parts of the city, especially Central Mumbai, went underwater in an hour, throwing the city in chaos. On Tuesday, a boy, whose identity is not known, drowned at Ghatkopar.

Central parts of the city were badly affected as heavy showers lashed areas like Hindmata, Sion, Kings Circle, Matunga, Dadar, Worli, Shivaji Park, Antop Hill, Parel, Dharavi, Wadala, Govandi, Chembur and Deonar Colony on Monday night.

According to civic data, the F-North and F-South wards, consisting mostly of these areas, received a heavy rainfall of 58 mm and 46 mm respectively from 10 pm to 11 pm. Within an hour, all these areas were flooded with water, where people had to wade through knee-deep water at some areas like Dadar TT, Wadala, Sion and Matunga.

People were spotted pushing their vehicles against the downpour. (Photo: Debasish Dey)

The civic body received complaints of water-logging in as many as 41 areas — 14 in the island city, six in the eastern suburbs and 21 in the western suburbs.

Flooding was also seen in western suburbs like Malad, Goregaon, Andheri, Vile Parle, Borivali, Bandra and Santa Cruz.

Civic activists have put the blame squarely on the BMC’s inadequate preparations to deal with monsoon. Matunga resident Nikhil Desai, who is also a civic activist, said, “The mess was inevitable in our area. While the BMC claims to have carried out 100 per cent of the desilting work, silt was kept lying on the banks of nullahs for several days. Despite complaining to the ward office several times, no action was taken by the BMC. After the rains, the silt went back into the nullahs, causing water-logging.”

What was surprising for most was the flooding of Hindmata, which is a chronic water-logging spot. With the commissioning of Britannia pumping station last year, the BMC had assured the public that there would not any water-logging at Hindmata.

Laxman Vhatkar, director (engineering and services), claimed that Britannina pumping station was in operation during the rains. “Hindmata is a saucer-like area, where water accumulates immediately during heavy rains. There was more than 50 mm rainfall, which was above the capacity of our stormwater drains system to handle. Same thing happened in areas like Dadar, Sion and Matunga. However, after rain subsided, the water was discharged quickly from these areas.”

On Tuesday, at Jai Ambe Nagar Talav near Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road a boy drowned in a pond. After taking him to Rajawadi Hospital, doctors announced him brought dead.

Part of a flyover bridge also caved in at Sion-Trombay Road, Rahul Nagar no 1, Kurla, causing a traffic disturbance.

“The bridge was under the jurisdiction of the public works department, but has now been handed over to the MMRDA. We have informed the MMRDA officials,” said a civic official.

On a positive note, lakes supplying water to Mumbai received a good rainfall with Modak Sagar (34 mm), Tansa (103), Vihar (28), Bhatsa (49), Middle Vaitarana (73) recording impressive figures.