Mumbai: Flood-free monsoon? BMC says it will happen

The Andheri subway on Sunday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

The civic body claims measures are being taken to ensure that flooding doesn't occur at spots that typically never fail to get inundated during the monsoon. Officials said the construction of a 1.9-crore-litre-capacity holding pond at Pramod Mahajan Kala Park, which will eliminate water-logging at Hindmata, will be finished before the monsoon while two mini-pumping stations will come up at the Mogra nullah to ensure the Andheri subway is flood-free.

The site of the holding pond in Parel, which will help keep Hindmata dry. Pic/Shadab Khan

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will set up two mini-pumping stations at the Mogra nullah soon to ensure Andheri subway is flood-free during the monsoon. Though the civic body is yet to clear the proposal for installing the pumping stations, it is confident about them being operational in a month. One mini-pumping station will come up near Andheri Market while the other will be at Azad Nagar. "The two mini-pumping stations will help to reduce water-logging in Andheri Subway and the surrounding area," said an official.

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Cost of the project is Rs 6 cr

"After the proposal is approved, we will start work. These are not huge pumping stations. We will construct a floodgate in the nullah and install a pump set. This can be completed before the monsoon," the official added. Each station will comprise three pump sets. "Each pump set can discharge 3,000 cubic metres of water per hour," said an official.

Andheri subway on Sunday. Pics/Anurag Ahire

He added, "The BMC has decided to opt for mini-pumping stations to tackle local area flooding," he added. According to the BMC's records, there is one mini-pumping stations each at Hindmata, Gandhi Market, Chunabhatti and Milan subway. Mini-pumping stations at Wadala fire station, Yellow Gate, Dharavi T Junction, Vidyalankar College in Wadala and Andheri subway will be completed before the monsoon. Residents of Andheri West fear that if the subway is flooded during the monsoon, traffic congestion will occur.

Dhaval Shah, the director of Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen's Association, said, "Now that the reopening of Gokhale bridge has been postponed to November, the BMC should ensure that traffic is smooth in the area during the monsoon. Every year, the Andheri subway is flooded and closed to traffic. The BMC should ensure that this does not happen this monsoon. The civic body should complete the construction of the mini-pumping stations before the monsoon."

Mogra nullah in whose vicinity the two mini-pumping stations will come up

Gokhale bridge, an east-west connector, has been dismantled. The BMC had decided to complete the rebuilding of two lanes of the bridge before the monsoon. But now the work will be completed by November. Additional municipal commissioner P Velrasu did not respond to this reporter's messages.

Rs 6 crore
Cost of installing 2 new mini- pumping stations at Andheri

4
No of existing mini-pumping stations