‘Vibrations’ in Marine Drive buildings traced to removal of tetrapods, BMC moves to reinstall them

The residents, in a letter to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide, who is in charge of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), said that unusual vibrations coinciding with high-tide timings are because of relocation of tetrapods due to the ongoing Coastal Road project.

Each weighing about two tons, the tetrapods installed in the late 1990s are also known as wave breakers which are useful in stopping the erosion of the coastline. Few tetrapods were removed for the ongoing Coastal Road project.

The BMC said that the tetrapods will be re-installed in the next two to three days during low tide. “To allay the fears of citizens of the said societies, BMC has asked the contractor to put the tetrapods back in place. The contractor has started the work of placing tetrapods at the said location,” stated the civic body.

On Monday, a team of representatives of the project contractor and management consultant along with civic staff visited the site in South Mumbai from where the complaints were received. “It was discussed that the reason for the vibrations on Friday was high tide, furious high waves and the speed of the gusty wind,” said an official. “Vibration monitoring instruments are provided on-site. The readings recorded by the said instruments during the high tide yesterday and today (Monday) are observed to be normal. The team monitoring vibrations visited the society premises and met the office bearer of the society,” said a civic official.

The residents had said that there was “no doubt over the vibrations being felt by almost all” living in the two buildings and that it had some correlation with the Coastal Road works.

“I would like to bring to your urgent notice that for the last few days, many residents of Shreeniketan and Gobind Mahal buildings (sea-facing buildings between G&F Road on Marine Drive) have been feeling vibrations. The vibrations come for 1 second and in intervals for a period of ~30-60 minutes in the afternoons. These vibrations feel like tremors akin to an earthquake. Many of us searched if there was an earthquake in Mumbai. Now imagine earthquake-like tremors 20-30 times in an hour,” stated the letter by the residents to the BMC.