Mumbai: Brihanmumbai municipal corporation chief Ajoy Mehta has blamed the Ashtami hide tide for the city’s flooding on August 29. During Ashtami, there is hardly any difference between the high and low tide. There are four types of high tides, of which the mixed tide happens on Ashtami. “On August 29, Ashtami, when it rained 325 mm in 12 hours, the high tide was at 3.25 metres and low tide 2.63, which meant there was not much difference between them. Due to this, it took lot of time for the water to recede from flooded areas,” said Mr Mehta.
The BMC chief was replying to the standing committee, where opposition members slammed the BMC for the chaos during the heavy rains on August 29. He said that the capacity of Brimstowad’s, city’s water drainage system, is meant to handle only 50 mm of rainfall per day. “If it rains more than that, the city is bound to get flooded,” he said.
Mr Mehta said that a decision has to be taken to find a solution for this problem. “We have summoned a special meeting of top civic officials on Friday. They will prepare a document on what needs to be done if such situation arises again. All officials including deputy and assistant municipal commissioners will attend the meeting” he said.
Mr Mehta claimed that there were no potholes on the roads admeasuring 138 kms, which were repaired before the monsoon. However, opposition leader Ravi Raja of Congress said that there are 19,300 potholes across the city. “The roads are riddled with potholes that cause inconvenience to the people,” he said.
