More trouble awaits people as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allowed blanket permission to dig trenches for metro and monorail works during monsoon.
The civic body normally asks the utility agencies to wind up trenches and road repair works before the onset of monsoon so that people do not face any inconvenience during the rains. During the four-month monsoon period, it does not allow utilities to carry out trenching on roads.
This year too, all utilities have been asked to complete their trenching works before May 31, said additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta. “However, metro and monorail are regular works and they need to carry out trenching for their operations. We had no option but to give them blanket permission for trenching,” he said.
Other utilities like the MSEB, Tata Power, Best have also been given permission to carry out trenching, but only in emergency cases when there is a need to correct faults in their system, Mr Gupta added.
“We already face problems due to the ongoing construction works. The BMC’s decision to allow trenching is further going to make matters worse for us during the monsoons,” said Anant Darekar, a resident of Ghatkopar.