Click to play videoMumbai: With only a few days to go before the monsoons arrive in Maharashtra, residents of Kurla and Kalina in Mumbai are an uneasy lot because two years after the Mithi river overflowed its banks only 8 per cent of the work required to prevent a repeat has been completed.
The memories of a flooded July 26, 2005 are hard to erase for the residents of Kurla and Kalina, the hardest hit suburbs of Mumbai.
“I still remember that day when the Mithi river overflowed and entered our homes and destroyed our lives,” a resident of Kurla, Subhash Gupta said.
An action plan was quickly formed and over Rs 1,300 crore was sanctioned to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to dredge the river.
While prodding from the courts drove the agencies to complete the first phase of work, the second phase is a non-starter.
“Second phase includes the widening as required, building of retaining wall and access road,” BMC Spokesperson, Rajadhyaksh said.
The work done till now seems good but the BMC's target is nearly three lakh cubic meters but at 45 per cent the BMC is miles ahead of the MMRDA, which has barely completed 5 per cent of its work.
“This time round the water logging is going to happen and Kalina, Kurla will be under water for at least 15 days. There might even be water on the runway,” Mithi river activist, Kirit Somaiya warned.
With this state of affairs, it is growing increasingly evident that this time round, too, Mumbai will be under water.
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