Mumbai: Cost of keeping Milan subway flood-free rises by 50 per cent

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The cost of keeping one of the city's chronic flooding spots - Milan subway - from going under water again has risen by at least 50 per cent. A BMC official attributed the increase to expenses linked to anchoring and piling work, which couldn't be foreseen before the work was started.

The BMC has been praised for its efforts to keep the subway, which lies between Santacruz and Khar, flood-free this monsoon. It has constructed a holding pond with a 2 crore-litre capacity in a municipal garden near the subway on the western side of the railway tracks. The pond is supposed to hold water from the subway during heavy rainfall. After the rain subsides, this water is released into a drain. As the pond wasn't ready by early July, flooding occurred in the subway on two occasions. The construction of a slab to seal the pond will start after the monsoon.

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The BMC standing committee had approved Rs 33 crore for all the work in the financial year 2021-22. The civic body on Thursday, however, floated another tender of Rs 15.97 crore for the remaining flood redressal work.

Bhagwant Late, deputy chief engineer of the stormwater drain department, said that the earlier estimation was based on a rough calculation, but the cost has gone up. "We encountered a rock while digging a pit and so the anchoring and piling work has increased," he said. Late added that the slab and remaining work would be completed before the next monsoon.