After the city recorded 75 mm of rainfall at the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Colaba station and 120 mm at the Santa Cruz station from Friday morning to Saturday evening, the Brihanmumbai
After the city recorded 75 mm of rainfall at the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Colaba station and 120 mm at the Santa Cruz station from Friday morning to Saturday evening, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management department recorded 19 waterlogging complaints in the city.
The disaster management department also recorded 66 tree collapses in this period.
Dadar, Parel railway station, Hindamata and Charni Road in the city and Goregaon, Vikhroli, Jogeshwari, Andheri, and Mulund saw moderate to heavy waterlogging. This has irked several activists who are questioning the results of awarding contracts for desilting work, pre-monsoon tree pruning and setting up 292 pumps to prevent waterlogging. The BMC has spent crores of rupees for these contracts, which seem to have not borne fruit.
Strangely, the BMC has been maintaining that Mumbai is prepared for the monsoons. In an official statement issued by the civic body, Sudhir Naik, deputy municipal commissioner, general administration, said, “We are prepared for the rains. There has been no major problem in transportation or waterlogging till now. Even though there have been reports of tree collapses, wall collapses and minor landslides in the city, no injuries have been reported.”
A senior civic official said, “Some amount of waterlogging is due to low-lying areas in the city. It is not because we are not prepared or because we do not have pumps in place. As for tree collapses, each one has a different reason. The amount of concretisation around trees in the city does not allow water to percolate into the soil and the tree is already dying. With the wind velocity during monsoons, the tree’s life shortens. This does not mean contractors have not done their jobs well.”
