Mumbai will flood on high-tide days: Civic chief

Mithi Project Stonewalled Pre-Rain Desilting Project Delayed As BMC & MMRDA Indulge In Bickering And Blame Game

The constant squabbling between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)—the two bodies responsible for cleaning the Mithi river—has put a spanner in the pre-monsoon desilting project. Lessons that ought to have been learnt after the 2005 deluge have been forgotten, and residents and activists say that unless the BMC and MMRDA get their act together, flooding will be an inevitable outcome this monsoon. 

    Of the 17.8-km-long Mithi, about 6km, from CST Road to Mahim Causeway, falls under the MMRDA's jurisdiction. The civic body is in charge of desilting the remaining 11.8km. Both bodies have failed to meet the 

May 31 deadline. The BMC claims that 90% of the desilting work on its stretch has been completed, but the ground reality reflects a different picture. On Saturday, TOI visited three stretches—two at Bandra-Kurla complex and one at Kapadia Nagar in Kurla—along the Mithi. Desilting work has been negligible, raising doubts over the BMC's claims. 

    Near the MMRDA office building at BKC, slum dwellers have breached the retaining wall along the Mithi. BJP national secretary Kirit Somaiya who had inspected a few areas said: "Across the city, only 30% of the retaining wall has been completed. The BMC and MMRDA claim that slum dwellers refuse to move, but they cannot keep citing the same excuse year after year." 

    The stretch of the Mithi opposite BKC is clogged with silt and plastic. Floating refuse in this part of the river will result in clogging the outfalls, say experts. Somaiya said: "The river is in the same disgraceful condition as it was seven years ago, even though crores of rupees have been spent on it. Silt is simply offloaded onto the banks of the river. The agencies responsible are yet to complete 70% of the work." 

    At Kapadia Nagar in Kurla (W)—the site where three children died when they fell into an open trench a month ago—work on the retaining wall is far from over. The areas still haven't been cordoned off. At another junction in the area, garbage and construction debris are being dumped into the river. Activists allege that officials have not taken any action. The heads of the agencies—MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana and BMC chief Sitaram Kunte—met on Friday. TOI has learned that Kunte has asked the MMRDA chief to complete the work in the next 15 days. 

PROMISES BROKEN 

Both the BMC and the MMRDA have failed to meet the May 31 deadline to desilt the Mithi river. Residents are unimpressed by the work the two bodies have done so far 

    The Vakola nullah near the police station 

    is in a critical condition. An incomplete bridge, which blocks floating debris, runs across the nullah, adding to the problem. Second, the BMC has not been able to clean the area under the bridge. Even though parts of the nullah have been desilted, it is of little use Dhaval Shah | VAKOLA RESIDENT Despite the fact that the BMC chief Sitaram Kunte had visited the Irla Nullah and directed SWD officials to make sure that it is cleaned before the May 31 deadline, the nullah is in the same pathetic condition. Nothing has changed Ashoke Pandit | CHAIRPERSON OF GULMOHAR AREA RESIDENTS WELFARE ASSOCIATION 

The BMC failed to desilt the nullah behind Milit Nagar. A day before the deadline (May 31), a contractor arrived to desilt the nullah but all he managed to do was destroy some mangroves. The nullah is still full of filth and debris 

Rakesh Coehelo | OSHIWARA RESIDENT Times View 

    These pictures tell the Mithi's story. They also foretell what may happen to some Mumbai neighbourhoods in case of even moderately heavy rainfall. Standard operation procedures not in place days before monsoon is set to strike Mumbai indicate inactivity and sluggishness round the year.