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Mumbai agencies claim preparedness for monsoons

With monsoons expected to arrive a week earlier this year, the civic and other agencies in Mumbai are preparing themselves for the rains and its fallout.

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MUMBAI: With monsoons expected to arrive a week earlier this year, the civic and other agencies in Mumbai are preparing themselves for the rains and its fallout.

Workers are trying to complete road repairs on a frantic pace, drains are being cleaned out, medicines are being stocked and railway tracks raised to make life easy for the city residents, who have come to dread monsoon, going by the experience of the last couple of years.

As transport networks have been prone to collapse during rains, authorities believe adequate precautions have been taken to ensure the monsoons don't not bring the metropolis to a standstill as happened in July 2005.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials said almost 80 per cent of the roads under their supervision are ready for the monsoons and the rest are likely to be completed before May 31.

"Although completion of work in the Western and Eastern Express highways is pending, we expect to finish it by this month-end," Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project director at MMRDA, said.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has 194 km of the city road stretch under its jurisdiction.

"Major part of the work is likely to be completed before May 31 and the rest will be covered and kept in a motorable condition during the monsoons," S Vhatkar, MCGM Chief Engineer Roads, said.

In addition, the civic body has also recruited contractors in each of its 24 wards to deal with potholes, MCGM Commissioner Jayraj Phatak said recently.

State PWD Minister Anil Deshmukh said in a recent interview that about 85 per cent of the maintenance work on the important Thane-Ghodbunder route has been completed and the remaining work would finish shortly.

The Jogeshwari-Chembur route, which is the East-West connectivity, has been converted into a 10-lane route from 4 lanes and at a few places it has been made to 12 lane for smoother flow of traffic, Deshmukh said.

The Mithi river, which caused widespread havoc during the deluge of 2005, is being currently desilted.

The Mithi River Development and Protection Authority (MRDPA) has been carrying on continuous desilting operations to ensure the river does not flood this year, Vikas Tondwalkar, project director, said.

"However, if there is a heavy rainfall, similar to that on July 26, 2005 (nearly 900 mm) then an assurance against flooding can't be provided despite all the widening and desilting operations," Tondwalkar cautioned.

The MCGM has also been working on desilting of rivers like those at Poisar and Dahisar, on the city outskirts, in addition to clearance of drains.

Municipal authorities said high power pumps had been placed at locations where flooding took place every monsoon.

The suburban railway network, the city's lifeline, has been fully prepared for the monsoons with drains along tracks on the Western and Central lines being cleaned out and culverts being constructed to prevent water logging.

Among other preparations include the raising of tracks along the Western Railway line and placement of high capacity pumps at locations on the Central line that are prone to water logging. Airport authorities also said they had made specific provisions for the monsoons.

To deal with the spread of diseases during the monsoons, the MCGM has stocked medicines at all public hospitals. Commissioner Pathak assured all vacant posts of doctors would be filled at the earliest.

The municipal authorities will also collaborate with other organisations such as Indian Medical Association and Association of Medical Consultants for training purposes.

To deal with disasters during the monsoons, the fire brigade has been provided with fire fighting equipment and other emergency facilities at each of its regional control centres.

Rescue teams, equipped with boats, trained swimmers and other necessary items have also been provided in centres across the suburbs in the eventuality of flooding in those areas.

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