At Taximen Housing Society in Kurla Wednesday. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)
INSTEAD of participating in the festivities of Ganesh Chaturthi in her colony, 60-year-old Kusum Aggarwal spent the entire morning throwing filthy water out of her porch. The water had rushed in from the Mithi river that had started to overflow on Tuesday. Aggarwal, like many other residents of the Bombay Taximen Cooperative Housing Society in Kurla West, was unable to stay in her own house on Tuesday and had to move into a neighbour’s flat on the upper floors. The utility providers severed electricity connections of many residential buildings in the area to prevent the rising water levels from causing a short circuit.
Aggarwal, a ground floor resident, said around 3 pm on Tuesday, water started flowing into her house. “It had started raining very heavily from 2 pm and after an hour or so, water started gushing in so quickly that we had no time to prepare. We removed a few things that were on the floor but in a matter of minutes, the water came up to our waists and we realised that we cannot spend the night in the house. We moved to our neighbour’s house upstairs around 4.30 pm,” she said. The society in Ram Manohar Lohia Nagar is close to the bank of the Mithi river before it flows through Bandra Kurla Complex.
Apart from damaged furniture, which included sofa and beds, Aggarwal said important documents kept in cabinets were also destroyed. “The water was filthy and the smell is still there,” she said. There was no power between 5 pm on Tuesday and 10 am on Wednesday. Pawanpreet Kaur Duggal, 35, who also lives on the ground floor in one of the buildings with her parents-in-law, husband and two children, had planned to cook for the entire society as part of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
She not only abandoned the plan but also lost food items stored in the house. “We provide meals for everyone who comes to visit our Ganpati pandal on all 11 days. But all the food has now been spoiled and along with it, our mattresses and pillows have been damaged. The water only started receding around 9.30 am. We had to throw out a lot of our belongings,” she said. Duggal and her family have suspended their cooking plans till Thursday as they have to first clean out the sludge. The society has been hosting a Ganpati mandal for the past 37 years and the residents are dismayed at the damage to the decorations. “All carpets and furniture have been damaged. We will now have to arrange for new material for the rest of the festival,” said 58-year-old Parshuram Gadakh, one of the managing members. Water from the Mithi river has also entered the society’s water tanks and residents are purchasing drinking water. More than 2,700 people live in the 28 wings of the society.
Apart from residents, the society also has around 40 shops located closer to the Mithi river and all of them suffered losses. Farooq Sheikh (58), who owns Neya Beauty Parlour and was seated in his shop when water came rushing in, said: “The water spoiled all the furniture in the shop and all electronic devices, like hair dryers as well as the fridge.” Another shopkeeper, 63-year-old Mansoor Ali who owns a 20-year-old crockery shop, claimed that he had suffered losses worth Rs 3 lakh.
“I had a lot of ceramic and glass crockery that are broken and damaged. I also lost a lot of documents pertaining to the shop. When the water entered the compound, we realised that we would have gotten injured had we stayed,” he said. Assistant Municipal Commissioner of L ward Ajit Ambi said the BMC had shut down the electricity supply of several areas where the water levels were rising upto meter boxes. “We didn’t want any untoward incident of short circuits to occur which is why, we shut down the electricity supply of some housing societies in Chunabhatti, Saki Naka, Tanaji Nagar and Kranti Nagar till the water levels started receding in the morning,” he said.
