Concrete riverbeds and plastic in drains may leave north Mumbai areas flooded

By: Nitasha Natu and Jhelum Bhattacharya
MUMBAI: Overflowing nullahs are the reason many parts of North Mumbai go under every year. Civic councillors said nullah and drain cleaning work starts as late as April when it should begin earlier.

Twenty nine locations between Oshiwara and Dahisar have been identified by traffic police as prone to waterlogging over the years. Among these are areas near Oshiwara nullah and Premnagar nullah in Goregaon. The list has been handed over to BMC for action.
“The civic body has concretised some rivers including those Poisar, Dahisar and Oshiwara and in some places riverbeds as well. This is a bad idea as concretising affects natural flow of water and prevents groundwater percolation,” said activist Subhash Rane. “Though Maharashtra was the first state to initiate a plastic ban, there has been zero implementation. Plastic stuck in nullahs and drains is the biggest reason for flooding. Stormwater drain cleaning work is done in a shoddy manner,” said Rane.
“At Kandivli, there is a one kilometre stretch between Link Road and PMGP nullah that is likely to get waterlogged this year. BMC had, last year, built a retaining wall on the nullah so that waste from surrounding slums doesn’t enter the water. But they did not ensure stormwater connections and sewerage connections for the adjacent slums,” said Kamlesh Yadav, corporator from Kandivli. He added that at Neelkanth Nagar in Kandivli, culverts were made but stormwater drain work couldn’t be completed. “At Maharashtra Nagar too, there is a strong chance of waterlogging this time around,” he added.
At Poisar in Kandivli East, two schoolgoing boys were electrocuted on Monday night when they came in contact with a live wire hanging from a staircase. As the area was under two feet water which was electrified, the bodies couldn’t be retrieved for a long time. “How can a place get waterlogged after the first showers? Drains were not cleaned properly which led to accumulation of water,” said Sunil Tiwari, a Congress worker.
VH Khandkar, chief engineer of the Storm Water Drains (SWD) department, said of 88 flooding spots identified in the western suburbs, 32 have been tackled. “We have completed SWD work such as nullah widening, making channels and box drains, in 15 locations. SWD project work is on at seven more locations. As for nullah cleaning work, 70% of estimated quantity has been removed,” he said.