Rains bring joy but expose chokepoints, spelling doom

The heavy rains that lashed Mumbai on Monday and Tuesday, fortunately did not paralyse the city, but they did expose certain bottlenecks that could spell doom as the monsoon progresses. DNA takes a closer look at the troubles the city would have to face if appropriate action is not taken.  

Track alert: There was waterlogging on railway tracks at Kurla and Vikhroli on Monday evening. As per data from the civic disaster management cell, the water on tracks was up to the ‘rails’ level. Had the accumulated rain water been just 4 inches more, train services along the route would have stopped, admitted railway officials.

The problem at Kurla was compounded by the fact that the station is situated on a low-lying plane. Officials from the civic storm water drain department revealed that inadequate widening of the culverts within or near the railway property were responsible for water logging at the stations.

According to a department official, the culvert widening work at the Kurla carshed nullah, which runs through railway lan, was originally expected to be completed last monsoon. “Lack of effective coordination between the Central Railway (CR) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to be blamed for the delay,” the official added. The railway culvert is less than 5 metres wide, while the drainage network it connects to is 15 metres wide. Also, widening of Hariyali nullah near Vikhroli railway station, which has been hit by the 160-odd settlements on its embankment, is believed to be responsible for waterlogging.  However, Srinivas Mudgerikar, chief public relations officer, CR, refuted the claim. Mudgerikar said that visibility on tracks, and not water logging, delayed train services.

Incomplete projects: The ongoing infrastructure projects in the city also contributed to disturbing the natural flow of rain water at many places. According to civic officials, residential areas near mega projects like the Metro, Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Monorail were susceptible to waterlogging. An ongoing bridge reconstruction work at Dahanukar Wadi in Kandivli has also raised flooding concerns in the region.

Silt trouble: The muck from drains cleaned by the civic body reentered the drains when it rained on Monday. Civic officials admitted that not all the silt removed from drains had been transported to dumping sites. Contractors appointed by the BMC had removed 4.02 lakh cubic metre of silt before the rains arrived. However, due to unavailability of land, all of it could not be dumped at a ‘secured’ site. However, CK Watve, chief engineer, storm water drains, said that the yet-to-be transported silt was not more than 3%.