With monsoons round the corner in Mumbai, a number of repair and desilting works taken up by the BMC remain to be completed; waterlogging expected in western suburbs
File photo of a nullah being desilted as part of BMC's monsoon preparedness plan
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It's the same story year on year. After months of claiming that this time round, come monsoon time, the BMC will be well prepared, yet when it does, they are not. With 267 road works still unfinished and only 20 per cent desilting of Mithi River carried out in the western suburbs, brace yourselves for another year of the monsoon wreaking havoc on the city.
The case for roads
Of the two categories of priority road repairs — those that are identified for repeatedly developing potholes — the BMC has failed to finish work on either. While in Priority-I, of the 110 identified, it has finished 103, in Priority-II, of the 248 identified, the civic body has only managed to finish 80.
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It has even failed to meet deadlines for completing project roads and trenching. Of the 583, the BMC has at least promised to finish work for 451 before the onset of monsoon, but is still struggling with 92 such roads. And of the 241 km that were given permissions for trenching, only 90 per cent has been carried out.
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Meanwhile, on the nullah desilting front, though it has managed to complete 99 per cent work on major nullahs in the island city, along with 75.64 per cent in eastern suburbs and over 90 per cent of minor nullahs on local ward level, it has only finished 20 per cent desilting of Mithi River. In comparison, last year at around the same time, 76 per cent of Mithi was already desilted. Therefore, it is likely that waterlogging will be seen in areas of Bandra, Khar and Santacruz during monsoon.
BMC says
A senior civic official, on condition of anonymity, said, "The work orders to the contractors for desilting the western part of Mithi River was awarded very late, owing to which the work is still incomplete. We are continuously cleaning the river and will take all the necessary precautions before and during monsoon."
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The civic body has also pointed out that this year the number of waterlogging spots in the city has come down. Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, said, "We are taking all the necessary precautions before and during monsoon. Even 293 waterlogging spots have been reduced to 219."
168 No. of Priority-II roads that haven't been completed yet
92 Project roadwork that is struggling to be finished before monsoon
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