Mumbai: Lokhandwala left with no water for 24 hours after pipe burst

Lakhs of litres of water went down the drain after a pipe burst occurred at an elevated point in front of the seven-storey Silver Sand building at Oshiwara in Andheri West around 2.30 pm on Wednesday. Residents claimed that the force of the water was so powerful that their windows and walls have been damaged.

Areas such as Millat Nagar, SVP Nagar, MHADA Colony and Lokhandwala cannot be supplied water until the 1,200-mm-diameter pipe is repaired. No infrastructure work was going on in the area at the time of the incident and it is possible that a patch had blown away due to the pressure of water. While the area around Infiniti Mall was flooded, no injuries were reported.

Civic officials try to fix the damaged pipeline at Oshiwara on Wednesday. Pics/Anurag Ahire

Rajan Malhotra, who resides on the sixth floor of Silver Sand said, "We first were startled by what sounded like a hailstorm. Went I went to the window, I saw water flowing from the terrace of our adjacent wing. Initially, I thought the terrace tank had burst. When I went to the terrace, all three wings' terraces were flooded with water. I immediately asked everyone to switch off the electricity."

Malhotra added that flats on every floor of building No. 20 got flooded as the windows were open. "A tree collapsed on a car while five automobiles on our premises and three cars from the neighbouring Sagar building were damaged by water," he said.

Another resident said that the water was gushing from a height so pedestrians were unhurt. "There is a cobbler's shop on the footpath. Luckily, he escaped without injuries as water sprayed over his shop," he said.

"The water was coming from such as height that the terrace of Silver Sand building was flooded. One of my friends stays on the sixth floor. Window panes were shattered as water entered homes. There are cracks in the walls. The clubhouse on the ground floor is badly damaged," said Mona Muni who resides at the nearby Sangam building, which was not affected by the pipe burst.

She added, "I stay two buildings away from the spot. We heard a large blast around 2.30 pm. It happened out of nowhere. We rushed to the window. When we looked at our society's WhatsApp group, it was inundated with videos and messages about the pipe burst."

Flooding brought about by the pipe burst at Oshiwara

Another Sangam resident said that water is generally supplied to the area every day around the time of the incident. "The BMC informed us that repairs are going on and the supply will resume after 24 hours. But as all buildings have storage tanks, it won't be much of an issue," the resident said.

Karan Jotwani of the Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen's Association said, "The road is an important link and is always busy with vehicles and cars parked on both sides. Fortunately, no one was injured in the accident. But traffic was affected badly. Even the road was cracked and which needed to be repaired."

A BMC official said, "Officers and employees of the hydraulic engineering department rushed to the spot and stopped the supply from the shaft near Infiniti Mall. Repairs started right after that. The pipeline runs around four to five feet beneath the road and there wasn't any other work going on at the site."

Purushottam Malavade, chief of the hydraulic engineering department, said, "The exact reason for the incident is not known but there was patchwork on the pipe and it might have burst, causing the leakage. We have started repairing it on a war footing and it will be fixed by Thursday morning."

2.30 pm
Time on Wednesday when incident occurred