Mumbai is the only municipal corporation to have a storm water drainage system. Other municipal corporations do not make it a priority. The flooding in Vasai-Virar recently could have been averted if there had been an SWD system in place. Mumbai has also learnt its lessons the hard way. Now, the city needs two more pumping stations to put an end to flooding in Sion and Bandra.
I worked in the SWD department for eight years. Initially, it was part of the roads department. In 1974, Mumbai received heavy rainfall with floods, following which the State government appointed the Natu Committee to study the situation. The committee recommended the creation of at least two SWD pumping stations with high capacity pumps, but as it would cost the civic body ₹50 crore, it was put on the backburner.
On June 25, 1985, there were heavy floods again, following which BMC agreed to implement those recommendations. The first good thing they did was to create a separate SWD department, and I was made the Chief Engineer. We appointed a consultant to study the city’ s requirements and give us an estimate. The consultant came up with a cost of ₹750 crore. We curtailed it to ₹250 crore to include only priority works, but this amount was said to be too much.
Deluge spurred action
Another flood went by in 2000, but only when the 2005 deluge happened did everyone wake up from their slumber. The Madhav Chitale Committee recommended immediate construction of three pumping stations. Even then, it was only in 2011 that the first pumping station at Haji Ali was commissioned.
The British had designed Mumbai’s SWDs to handle only 25mm rainfall per hour. The BMC has managed to increase the capacity of some of them to 50mm of rainfall per hour, but what they need to factor in is in the old days, much rainwater would also seep into the ground or open spaces.
This would mean that only, say, 50% would go into the drains. Due to rapid concretisation, water has no way to seep into the ground. That means all storm water will go into drains and 50mm will also not be enough.
After all these years, BMC has finally taken up augmentation of an 800-metre drain at Hindmata junction that will hopefully bring relief.
I hadn’t thought I will live to see that day. But the problem of flooding in Sion is acute. Unless a pumping station is installed at Mahul, there will be no relief.
It would also take care of water coming onto railway tracks between Sion and Matunga.
When BKC was being made, MMRDA was supposed to have a small pumping station at Mahim Causeway to mitigate flooding in Bandra (E), but the station would require a lot of infrastructure changes, and it wasn’t set up. It would have helped prevent flooding in Bandra's Railway Colony.
I believe it when politicians demand a single umbrella agency for Mumbai.
Look at the case of Mahul pumping station: BMC is awaiting permissions from the Salt Pan Commissioner, whose department owns the land.
If all the city's land belonged to one agency, things will be streamlined and files will move rapidly.
(As told to Tanvi Deshpande)
