Mumbai still not rain-ready

Mumbai: The monsoon almost at the city's doorstep, Mumbaikars are dreading another season of flooding and attendant problems caused by the civic body's unpreparedness. 

    Over two days, TOI visited four spots given to waterlogging every monsoon-—Milan Subway at Santa Cruz, Dhobi Galli at Andheri, Geeta Nagar at Colaba and Gandhi market at Sion—and found that the dwellers of these areas are liable to suffer again this year. The four places are among the 'flooding spots' or 'chronic flooding spots' identified by the BMC, where de-watering pumps have been installed. Still, residents of the four locations call the corporation's pre-monsoon preparations inadequate or a non-success. 
    At Milan Subway, three de-watering pumps have been fitted to ensure that motorists do not have a harrowing time.Buteven a civicofficial admits, "The pumps will be of no use if the subway floods during high tide. The storm water drains are choked and will not be able to carry to sea the rain water flushed into them." 
    Rishi Agarwal, a local, says, "The storm water drain next to the subway has aptly been named 'Gobar Nullah' as it is clogged with cowdung.Ido notseeitbeing of any use in the monsoon." 
    At Dhobi Galli in Andheri, residents say, the BMC has done a sloppy job of desilting the storm water drain. "A month has passed, but the BMC has not lifted the silt from the side of the road. A week ago, a BMC truck came and dumped a pile of rocks and sand on top of the silt," says Hiralal Kanojia, a resident of Dimple Housing Society. Adding to residents' woes, many drains on the road have got choked because of monorail construction work. 
    According to the locals of Geeta Nagar, the drainage system is the cause of the problems in their area. The closed drain, they say, is clogged with muck and yet to be cleaned. The water pump the BMC provided for the area is lying at the spot unassembled. 
    At the busy Gandhi Market area in Sion,localsclaim, the reason for the invariable waterlogging is that the area lies in a depression in land. Activist R Sridhar says, "The road that connects the flyovers between Sion Hospital and King's Circle is like a saucer. This results in water flowing down the road from the two sides and accumulating around King's Circle railway bridge." 
    The BMC had earlier used suction pumps to clear the storm water drain, which was choked with sludge. A water pump has now been installed near Shanmukhanand Hall. But since the gutters are full of garbage, there are fears that the flow of water may get hindered during heavy showers.

FILTH ON THE STREETS: These pictures show the state of roads in (clockwise from top) Colaba, Andheri, at Milan subway and Sion