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Mumbai: Khar and Santacruz will be flooded again

The BMC missed its deadline to start the Gazdarband pumping station this year too

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Man rides his bike at water-logged Carter Road
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The residents of Khar, Santacruz, and Bandra will not get any relief from waterlogging this monsoon either. This year, too, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) failed to keep its promise to start the Gazdarband pumping station. Work on the pumping station at Gazdarband was started in 2014 to prevent flooding in parts of western suburbs, but only 50 to 60 per cent of the work has been completed so far.

The storm water drains (SWD) department has finally decided to appoint a new contractor to construct the remaining part of the pumping station. The decision was taken after several show cause notices failed to push the present contractor — Pratibha Industries — to speed up work. If the Gazdarband pumping station could be made operational this monsoon, several areas in Santacruz, Khar, and Milan subway to Bandra would have got some relief from water logging.

The construction cost of Gazdarband pumping station is Rs 105 crore and it will have a capacity to pump out around 36,000 litre of rainwater.

P Khedkar, Deputy Chief Engineer of SWD department, said, "The contractor is working very slow despite being warned several times. We have no option but to terminate the contract. We have already floated tenders for the new contractor and it will take at least three months to complete the procedure. Once the new contractor is appointed, the present contract will be terminated."

Pratibha Industries is the same contractor who was operating and managing the Irla pumping station. During last year's deluge, they failed to fill diesel in the pumps at Irla, which resulted in floods at Juhu and JVPD.

Irla pumping station was constructed to prevent flooding in the stretch between Milan subway to Andheri and Jogeshwari.

"We approached the police to lodge a complaint against the contractor for negligence. But police refused to register it saying it is not a law and order situation, but an internal matter between BMC and the contractor," Khedkar said.

"However, this contract is ending on May 31. We expect the new contractor to be appointed this week itself. The Rs 40 crore contract will be for seven years," he added.

THE GAZDARBAND PUMPING STATION

  • The construction cost of Gazdarband pumping station is Rs 105 crore and it will have a capacity to pump out around 36,000 litre of rain water.
     
  • Work on the pumping station at Gazdarband was started in 2014 to prevent flooding in parts of western suburbs, but only 50 to 60 per cent of the work has been completed so far. 
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