Monday, May 06, 2024 | Last Update : 05:20 AM IST
BMC to spend Rs 13 crore on extra drains at Hindmata
The project of laying additional drains will take 12 to 14 months to complete.
Mumbai: To ease the flooding problem at Hindmata, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend Rs 13 crore on laying additional underground drains up to the Britannia pumping station.
According to civic officials, the civic body has decided to augment British-era underground drains, which will increase their water-carrying capacity. For the same, the civic body has appointed a contractor to lay the drain.
The project of laying additional drains will take 12 to 14 months to complete.
The Britannia pumping station can presently handle only 50mm of rainfall in an hour. The capacity of present drains, which are underground and constitute 25 per cent of sewer lines, cannot be increased. Hence additional drains are required to ease the flooding problem at Hindmata.
After the commissioning of Britannia pumping station at Reay Road last year, the BMC had claimed that Hindmata — a notorious flooding spot — and its surrounding areas would be free of water-logging problems. However, despite Britannia pumping station being functional, the entire Hindmata area went underwater in the very first major rains in the city on June 12, which raised huge question marks over the BMC’s claims of monsoon preparedness.
BMC chief Ajoy Mehta had ordered an inquiry asking to probe the functioning of Britannia pumping station and reasons why the water accumulated at Hindmata and Gandhi Market took several hours to recede even after the commissioning of the pumping station.
The probe report had recommended that the civic body needs to take up installation of additional drains to prevent water-logging at Hindmata. It should be built from Madkebuva Chowk via Lalbaug to Kalachowki and connected to ensure proper discharge of floodwater.
“The water is not discharged quickly as there is very little difference in the slope levels between Hindmata area and Britannia pumping station. So the water is not brought quickly to the pumping station. So we have decided to lay an additional drain under the footpaths along the route,” said a senior civic official.
