Dadar and Sion’s chronic flooding spots submerge, locals blame civic inaction

MUMBAI: Several areas in and around Dadar, Sion and Matunga were submerged on Monday morning following a relentless downpour from Sunday night. "My son and daughter-in-law were unable to leave home for work," said King's Circle resident Nikhil Desai.

Desai, a 67-year-old retired mechanical engineer, said the locality has been a chronic flooding spot for years now. Twelve years ago, said Desai, the Madhav Chitale Committee had said that these areas, especially Sion's Gandhi Market, began to get flooded after a pumping station was constructed on salt pan land at Mahul.
Desai said, "Since the past 12 years, during monsoon, the BMC and the Central government (the land belongs to it) sends out some correspondence to show that they are working on the problem. But no progress has been made. Citizens continue to suffer. I visit these areas during my walks. More than a dozen areas in the vicinity flood every year, and they were flooded on Monday too."
His locality comes under the jurisdiction of the BMC's F-North Ward office which recorded 167mm rainfall in 12 hours starting 8pm on Sunday. The waterlogged area saw traffic congestion on key roads in the morning. The situation began to improve through the day as rain slowed. The ward recorded 58mm rainfall between 8am and 6pm on Monday.
"The railway stations in the vicinity flooded too. The BMC, the railway and the government have not made any serious attempts to address these issues. Even our public representatives are aware of these flooding spots and the problem caused by them during monsoon but they do not raise the issue before the appropriate authorities and we citizens suffer," said Desai.