Mumbaikars may have some much-needed relief from the summer heat, with the monsoon expected to be on time this year. However, as always, this spells some testing times ahead for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Mumbai’s guardian minister Arif Naseem Khan on Wednesday held a meeting with the municipal commissioner and other officers of the BMC to discuss preparations to be taken before the monsoon hits the city. The minister announced that except for the construction work on the Metro Rail, the monorail and the skywalks, no work would be allowed to continue after May 31 during the monsoon season.
The minister also discussed various measures to be taken during the monsoons to ensure that citizens are in no way inconvenienced. He also said that all these preparations would be completed by May 31.
“All preparations will be completed by May 31. The BMC has identified 196 low-lying areas in the metropolis and has deputed 15 extra men in each of the wards to which these areas belong, to tackle all problems that may arise. Also, instructions have been issued to all the agencies that are involved in infrastructure construction, cable-laying or any kind of work that may cause flooding, to either complete their work or stop completely and fill all the pits before May 31,” Mr Khan said. He added that the work would be allowed to resume only after the monsoon is over.
As per the BMC’s plans, all the nullahs and drains will be cleaned up, and the work of the Irla and Haji Ali pumping stations will be completed, all by the end of the month. Since the overhead bridge at the Milan subway cannot be completed before this monsoon, an iron bridge will be put up for pedestrians as a temporary measure, the minister said.
“Work on the Metro Rail and Phase I of the monorail are the only construction works that will continue during the monsoon as the state intends to complete both the projects by December 2010. There shouldn’t be too much trouble as the construction work for these two projects are above the plinth level and hence won’t cause any water logging,” Mr Khan said. He added that in case of the skywalks, the state does not want to extend the individual deadlines, and so, work on these will also be on during the monsoon.
The minister further said that according to the central water and power research station, (CRPWS) 65 per cent of the work of cleaning the Mithi River was supposed to have been completed by now.
However, during Wednesday’s meeting, municipal commissioner Swadhin Kshyatriya and additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Singh admitted that since there was no dumping space available, only 58 per cent of the work has been completed till now. “Now that the collector has made 8 acres available for dumping in the eastern suburbs, the entire work of cleaning the river can be completed before May 31,” the minister said.