The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday informed the Bombay High Court it was prepared to “tackle all natural calamities” this monsoon.
Senior counsel Anil Sakhare presented an affidavit filed by the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Disaster Management) before a division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai. The affidavit said, on September 1, 2017 the municipal commissioner had constituted an inquiry committee that gave certain recommendations to avoid untoward incidents, such as a mechanism for avoiding falling in open manholes, providing mechanical grabs (sweeping machines) at pumping stations, police intervention during flooding, Mumbai-specific detailed meteorological predictions, and an awareness campaign, and that it has complied with the recommendations.
It said, “The BMC has taken various precautionary steps before and during the monsoon. Before the monsoon, a regular, detailed survey is carried out. In a crisis situation, HAM radio operators will be mobilised as per the requirement, and a disaster management plan has been prepared by wards and departments. The list of dates of high tides for the monsoon period, where the tide is expected to be more than 4.5 m, has been identified and all the departments have been instructed to be alert on these days.”
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The BMC has in place the Mumbai Monsoon 2018 guidelines, which cover preparedness measures for water logging, roads, tree falls, landslides and house collapses, health, beach safety and preparedness for response. The report, it told the court, has been presented to the government and is being acted upon.
The court told the BMC that on August 29 last year, a lot of court staff couldn’t leave for their homes because of heavy rains. The bench said food and stay had to be arranged and while some lawyers came to help, there was not a word from the BMC. The same day, Dr Amrapurkar, a gastroenterologist at Bombay Hospital, had fallen into a manhole near Prabhadevi and died. Thereafter, the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association had filed a public interest litigation regarding manholes that posed a lethal threat to residents during the rainy season. Our main concern is that such a tragedy (Dr. Amrapurkar’s death) must never occur again in the city,” the Bench said.