Mithi Project snails along

As part of the ongoing series on civic issues, DNA highlights the plight of the Mithi River. Much water has flown down the river after the redevelopment project was launched in 2005. But surface realities have not changed. The state first blamed the ‘abused’ river as the reason for the flooding. Then, it formed not just one, but two committees, and has been sitting on it since then. With four months left for the monsoon, authorities are sceptical about meeting the project’s deadline. Is another 26/7 in the offing? That is the worry. Sandeep Ashar and Sharad Vyas dig deep

Two years after the state government launched the Mithi River Development Project amid fanfare, it is yet to gather real momentum. So lackadaisical has been the approach of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh-headed Mithi River Development and Protection Authority (MRDPA) that it is yet to decide on the desired width of the river bed. Though 2009 was the cut-off date, the authorities are now clueless on the time frame. Crores of rupees had already been spent and best-in-the-business experts had been roped in. Much water has flown in the river, but the surface realities have not changed much.   

What does that mean to a Mumbaikar? Will the next monsoon create a havoc like 26/7? Authorities are blaming each other instead of promising the city a trouble-free monsoon.    

The much-awaited phase II of the project, initiated after 26/7, has suffered a five-month delay thanks to the lack of coordination between the two implementing agencies - the MMRDA and the BMC. With barely four months left for the monsoon, experts are sceptical of even the commencement of the large-scale work.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who filed a petition against the state government for large-scale exploitation of the Mithi river, said, “There is no chance that the work will even begin before monsoon. MRDPA is an ‘only-on-paper-organisation’. It is a criminal waste of 12 months. The government is playing with the lives of people.”  

The two agencies are at loggerheads on the area that requires widening. The bone of contention being recommendations of two committees - the Madhav Chitale committee and a report from Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune appointed by the state post-26/7. The BMC is keen to embark on excavation based on Chitale committee’s recommendations which, they claim, would reduce the burden of land acquisition and rehabilitation while mitigating floods. The MMRDA wants to implement the CWPRS report which plans for floodwater discharge from Mithi into the sea for 100 years and necessitates more hollowing out.

“If we go by the CWPRS report, more structures will be affected and hence land acquisition process will be cumbersome. It will take at least five years for these acquisitions. CWPRS report looks good on paper, but it may not be feasible with a three-year timeframe,” said a senior BMC official.

Based on CWPRS’s recommendations 17,000 structures, including established industrial estates, government and private offices, several religious structures will be affected.

The BMC claims Chitale’s recommendations will reduce the numbers by half. MRDPA project director and MMRDA staff Vikas Tondawalkar said, “The authority was formed to mitigate floods. The government has invested a large amount on the project. We are interested in long-term planning.” “We are in no hurry. The work is technical in nature and requires expertise,” said Tondawalkar.

The BMC claims Chitale’s recommendations will reduce the numbers by half in its area. The two agencies will meet on Wednesday to settle the issue.