Close to 81 mm rainfall in just four hours on Monday morning led to flooding and traffic snarls in several areas of Navi Mumbai. There was severe traffic congestion at Kharghar on the Sion-Panvel Highway, which was waterlogged after the Kopra river overflowed.
Kharghar corporator Leena Garad said the river diversion work, started four years ago, was still incomplete and had caused the river to spill over. “The diversion work would have allowed the river to flow freely towards Kalamboli to join the Kasadi river and later the Gadhi river. The new Kopra bridge has 22 pipelines underneath, but they are not spacious enough to allow free flow of water. As a result, the excess water spilled onto the main road.”
CIDCO officials, meanwhile, said the diversion work was stalled due to a land dispute. “A patch of land has pipelines which provide water to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, a gas pipeline and some cables, due to which multiple authorities are involved. We will soon find a solution,” a CIDCO official from Kharghar said.
People wade through a waterlogged Kopra village in Navi Mumbai after heavy rain on Monday. | Photo Credit: Yogesh Mhatre
He said the main reason for the waterlogging on Monday was the high volume of rain in a short time. “The Public Works Department had not cleaned some nullahs, and a bund that stops the Kharghar hill water from entering the Kopra river broke due to the heavy rainfall,” the official said.
Another spot that saw heavy waterlogging was the Millenium Business Park near Sharayu Motors at Turbhe MIDC. “The area gets flooded every year, but this time the problem was severe due to the heavy rain. Once the rain decreased, the water receded and normal traffic resumed. Many cars parked outside Sharayu Motors started floating in the accumulated water. While owners of some were able to take them away, other cars stopped working and had to be carried away by cranes,” Turbhe traffic police inspector Kisan Gaikwad said.
Sector 9 and 10 of Vashi, Mahape MIDC, Airoli T junction Ghansoli village, and the Tata Memorial Centre in Kharghar were flooded.