BMC seems prepared for monsoon, but brace for surprises

The situation on ground in the next few days, if the monsoon keeps its date with Mumbai, will in fact be a good litmus test of the quality of work the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims to have done to prevent flooding.

Other than the question of unpredictability, which the civic body attributes to a sudden downpour, the BMC says the problem of waterlogging in 90% of the locations, notorious for giving a nightmarish experience to motorists and pedestrians alike, has been taken care of. It also claims to have completed over 100% desilting of nullahs and storm water drains as of Tuesday.

In this backdrop, Hindustan Times along with three independent experts conducted a day-long audit at 10 locations across the city on Monday to assess the BMC’s preparedness. Civic officers in-charge of each of the locations visited the site along with the experts to apprise them of the work done over the past one year.

The findings have revealed that while overall, the civic body seems better prepared this monsoon compared to previous years, disappointment awaits Mumbaiites at certain flooding spots and catchment areas of nullahs, while motorists are likely to have a bumpy ride.

Charles Simoes, one of the experts, said, “The pre-monsoon audit indicates that the BMC has taken several positive steps to improve roads, drains, and flood-control mechanism. However, there are some areas where efforts are not visible on the ground and these would still bring monsoon woes to the people. The civic body should be vigilant and provide prompt maintenance for a few days before, and during heavy spell of rain.”

A civil and structural engineer with over 35 years of experience, Simoes pointed to another major challenge - the vast amount of ongoing infrastructure work all over Mumbai.

The 10 spots were selected by HT after carefully examining the waterlogging reports and monsoon woes of local residents in the last few years, the money spent by the BMC to address these problems, and the overall significance of an area, including proximity to important landmarks and connectivity for the average commuter.

Four of the locations - Gandhi Market near Matunga and Hindmata Junction on B A Road in central Mumbai, Chembur Circle in the eastern suburbs, and Khar Subway in the western suburbs – are chronic flooding spots. The civic body had in 2021 started infrastructure projects worth ₹115.85 crore at Hindmata Junction and ₹20.16 crore at Gandhi Market, which were completed this year.

According to the BMC, Hindmata Junction, Gandhi Market, and Chembur Circle will not see flooding this monsoon, as water receding time at each spot has been brought down to lesser than 30 minutes in case of heavy showers.

Two nullahs are also on the list. Everard nullah, which joins Mahul Creek, in the eastern suburbs has a wide catchment area of Kurla, Wadala, Sion, and Chembur, while SNDT nullah, which runs between Milan subway and Gazdarband pumping station, has four smaller but crucial nullahs emptying into it, and solid waste from Khar and Santacruz are discharged into this nullah.

The remaining four spots that were part of Monday’s audit were arterial roads crucial to the north-south or east-west commute in the city. They are B A Road, Mahapalika Marg near BMC headquarters in Fort, S V S Road at Santacruz, and Chembur Circle.

Vidya Vaidya, another expert on HT’s panel, said, “We are hoping that the BMC has done adequate work, and the situation will be better than the previous years.” Vaidya, who is from Bandra, is associated with multiple residents’ and citizens’ forums.

Apart from Simoes and Vaidya, the third expert was D K Pathak, former deputy engineer with the storm water drains department of BMC. Pathak retired from service in 2009.

Though they are unanimous in commending the BMC’s efforts, and calling the works strategic and well-planned, they also voice concern over the quality of work at a few of the audited spots that will disappoint citizens. Moreover, a downpour will reveal the effectiveness of the work carried out by the BMC, and justify the crores of rupees spent on mitigation efforts, the experts say.

Among the suggestions the three experts have put forward for the civic body are round-the-year maintenance of nullahs and better coordination in areas where multiple planning agencies have jurisdiction.

In its budget presented in February, the BMC said it had identified 386 chronic waterlogging spots over the past two-three years. Of them, according to the storm water drains department of the civic body, 282 flooding spots have already been attended to.

Overall, the BMC has completed 112.40% desilting of nullahs in Mumbai, and removed 10,231,91.92 metric tonnes (MT) of silt against the target of 9,103,18.31 MT. It has completed 112.08% desilting in the island city, 111.38% in the eastern suburbs, and 111.60% in the western suburbs.

On May 19, environment minister Aaditya Thackeray in a statement said, “We noticed that the summer and winter were extreme this time; the monsoon may likewise be extreme. Mumbai is prepared for it.”

Thackeray also said, while all technical and practically possible care had been taken, extreme weather could not be predicted. “Mumbai-like management [during monsoon] is not seen anywhere. Any city that receives over 200mm of rain in a day is likely to see waterlogging, which we tend to call flooding due to the panic-like situation arising from it.”

Over the past three years - 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 - ₹4,725.83 crore has been spent by the BMC’s storm water drains department, of which ₹3,038 crore is the capital expenditure.