UNDER ATTACK for flooding in several parts of the city last Tuesday, when Mumbai received 315 mm of rain, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said there was water-logging mainly at three places — the Bandra Kurla Complex, Hindmata and Elphinstone Road station. Civic chief Ajoy Mehta has ordered the storm water drains (SWD) department to conduct an inquiry into the prolonged water-logging at Hindmata.
The BMC has blamed the Western Railway (WR) and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) for the blocked drains along Elphinstone Road station and at BKC, respectively.
Last week, Mehta ordered the SWD department to conduct an inquiry into why floodwaters receded slowly at Hindmata. “The 7-km-long drain that connects Hindmata to the Britannia pumping station is known to be narrow and I have directed the SWD department to find out why the water receded at such a slow pace even when the pumping station was functional. They will insert a camera and check for obstructions,” said Mehta.
On August 29, water-logging was reported in Parel, Elphinstone Road and Sion, among other places, possibly caused by blocked culverts along the railway line near Elphinstone Road station. Senior civic officials said the responsibility lies with the WR. “The preliminary report accompanied by images of the site indicates that acute water-logging in neighbouring areas had occurred due to sleepers that had jammed the culvert. After we removed it, the water steadily drained out,” said an official.
The railways sought to play it down. “We are not blaming the BMC. A joint precautionary action was taken in coordination with the BMC before the monsoon. On August 29, there was unprecedented rainfall followed by a high tide at 4 pm. It caused water-logging on the tracks near Elphinstone station,” said Mukul Jain, divisional railway manager, WR.
At BKC, a barrel drain near the upcoming Metro station was clogged. Civic officials claimed workers from the Metro site had dumped cement and other debris in the drain.
“After receiving complaints of water-logging, additional municipal commissioner A L Jarhad visited the site on August 30. We found the drain filled with debris. We contacted MMRCL and they sent equipment and workers who cleaned the drain in two-three hours,” said the official. Despite several attempts, MMRCL did not respond to calls or messages.
Officials also admitted to poor coordination among agencies on August 29. A senior civic official said there was very little communication with the railways after services were interrupted. “We were not able to ascertain what the accurate status was. Unlike the police who were posting regularly on Twitter, there was no such update from the railways,” said the official.
Officials also blamed the India Meteorological Department for inaccurate forecasts. “Their forecast had said it would rain in the north Konkan region at one or two places. They never predicted it would rain more than 200 mm in more than 10 places,” said the official.
The disaster management cell said while the control room receives 100-150 phone calls on an average daily, on August 29 they got more than 37,000 calls.
