Show-cause notice for private firm that broke water tunnel

The repairs of the tunnel. File pic

Nearly seven months after a builder digging an illegal borewell in Thane punctured a tunnel, causing Mumbai a loss of 650 million litres of water, the BMC will send the company a show-cause notice today. In an attempt to make a watertight case against the violator, in the notice the BMC will mention the amount of the fine imposed on the construction company, and the trouble caused by the puncturing of the tunnel.

On November 8, 2022, the BMC water tunnel was punctured at Wagle Estate. The BMC completed repairs on the tunnel on April 18, 2023, in 18 days. During this period the city faced a 10 per cent water cut.

Water from the tunnel was being pumped into this storm water drain at the work plot. File pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu said, "We are going to send a show-cause notice to the offender. We will give a time of a week or two weeks for a reply. After receiving the reply, we will start further action. We had already issued notice to the concerned within a week of the incident. Now we are sending the notice, the amount of the fine, and information about the trouble caused by the puncturing of the tunnel. We have taken this decision considering the legal aspect."

On March 28, 2023 the BMC registered an FIR against the developer under IPC Section 430 at the Sri Nagar police station, Thane. The BMC has decided to recover around Rs 75 crore from the offender as fine. The cost of repairing the tunnel is Rs 13.88 crore. BMC will recover 5-times the cost of repair and recover the cost of water.

650 mn lts
Quantity of water wasted due to the puncture and repairs