Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray’s neighbours wade in knee-high water again

The waterlogged Patrakar society

The locality where Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray resides at Bandra East, witnessed flooding on Day 1 of the monsoon on Wednesday. The water started accumulating in housing societies by 11 am and reached knee level by 1 pm. Most of the area around Kalanagar, where he stays, was under water for several hours. The water didn't recede an inch until 6 pm. Fed up residents have demanded a permanent solution to the issue.

Sonal Kotnis, secretary Patrakar society

Many citizens tried to contact the local ward office and corporator in vain. Sonal Kotnis, the secretary of Patrakar society said, "We always have a waterlogging issue during the rains but this time it happened on the very first day. There is knee-high water in ground level flats and it won't recede till night. Where will senior citizens go? We also had to move our vehicles." She added, "We called the local ward office and corporator but no one came to help us in time. A group of residents helped each other. Now we have asked for an immediate joint meeting of BMC and MMRDA officials to sort the issue. We need a permanent solution."

‘What monsoon preparation?'

Local corporator Rohini Kambale allegedly asked a technician to look into the issue and informed residents that the pumps installed in some of the housing societies to throw out the water were not working, as garbage was stuck in them. "No one came for an hour and then we got this answer. Where is the monsoon preparation? It is the BMC's duty to keep pumps in working condition," said another resident.

‘MMRDA-BMC passing the buck'

"Kalanagar is a low lying area compared to nearby BKC. There are a few outlets here that throw water into the stormwater drainage in MMRDA. But there isn't any system to close these outlets at the time of high tide and the area gets flooded due to reverse flooding," said Siddharth Pardhe, a resident of Sahitya Sahawas. He added, "There is a pumping station at MMRDA but no one is taking responsibility for it. When we contacted BMC they said the station comes under MMRDA, and MMRDA told us that the BMC is looking into it. Last year, we got some relief due to high capacity pumps, but this year the pumps are not in working condition. "

"There was an issue with one pump at Patrakar society. The team arrived at 6 pm and the work completed by 7 pm.The water will recede shortly, " said Kambale.