Mumbai: Year on, Palghar's Gargai dam project awaits Centre’s green light

Modak Sagar, one of the seven reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai. BMC plans to bring the water from Gargai to Modak Sagar via a 2.5-km-long tunnel

A year after it sent a proposal to the Union environment ministry for its Gargai dam project in Palghar district, the BMC is yet to receive approval from the Centre. The new reservoir will uproot 4.5 lakh trees at Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary and submerge 670 hectares of forest land.

Vasant Gaikwad, chief engineer of BMC's water supply project, said, "We are in the process of getting the environmental permission. The ministry had some queries about the project. We are replying to them."

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Civic officials said that the project will add 440 million litres of water to Mumbai's daily supply. The city now gets 3,950 million litres every day. BMC plans to bring the water from Gargai to Modak Sagar, one of the seven reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai via a 2.5-km-long tunnel.

Another BMC official said, "This is a very long process. It always takes time to get permission from the ministry for this kind of a big project."

As per the project report, the dam will cost an estimated R3,105 crore, including R435 crore towards the rehabilitation of tribals. It will affect 185 families.