Vikhroli residents grapple with waterlogging as MHADA, BMC pass the buck

Mumbai: Residents of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli East have been grappling with waterlogging for over six months due to an overflowing sewerage line and a leaked water pipeline. But all their efforts to find a resolution have come a cropper as two agencies, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), have been passing the buck to each other.

Tagore Nagar is home to hundreds of tenements built by MHADA in the 1970s, as well as over 30 buildings. Water and sewerage lines in the area were laid by MHADA 40-45 years ago, but their maintenance has not been handed over to the BMC. This is causing teething problems for residents and shopkeepers, as the neighbourhood gets flooded every few days.

“The slope of the sewerage line is faulty – there is some reverse flow, and the slush doesn’t move ahead, but leaks,” said Dilip Kopikar, a retired defence personnel who runs an LPG gas service agency in Tagore Nagar. He said the authorities were releasing this accumulated sewage water into a nearby storm water drain as a temporary measure. “Besides this, a water pipeline is also leaking, causing waterlogging on either side of the road. This situation is a health hazard, but the authorities have nothing to say or do about it,” added Kopikar.

The waterlogging is so severe that even school and college students are affected. Nearly 700-800 students of Sandesh College of Arts Commerce & Science, which is located in the same neighbourhood, use the road every day, said a staff member of the college.

“Many students have complained about the problem to me. I had complained about the same to the BMC before the monsoons, after which I received an email stating the problem was resolved. But the resolution was only temporary. We need a permanent solution as it is affecting the health of children and elderly both,” said Rupesh Dhaneshwar, a faculty member of the college.

When contacted, both MHADA and BMC officials conceded that the area was facing a waterlogging problem. MHADA officials said they had urged the BMC take over the maintenance work, but it was refused. BMC officials, on the other hand, said that unless the maintenance work was officially handed over to them, they could not be deemed responsible.

A senior MHADA official responsible for the eastern region said, “The maintenance work should have been taken over by BMC long ago, once people started living there. We had paid around ₹20 crore to BMC 10-15 years ago towards this, but they did not take charge. We want them to take over and maintain the water and sewage lines.”

He stated that BMC had put forth a proposal, whereby it agreed to take over maintenance work only if the lines were repaired/re-laid or if MHADA paid the charges for the same, amounting to over ₹40 crore.

“BMC should understand that the cost shouldn’t be this high,” the officer said. He also noted that though MHADA had been paying sewage charges to the BMC, the corporation had not repaired the sewage line.

Meanwhile, a senior official from BMC’s S ward, said, “These lines are still under MHADA, and a proposal is under consideration. We cannot take over the maintenance work unless this proposal is approved, and the initiative for it must come from MHADA.”

Another official from S ward with knowledge of the issue said, “MHADA has no documents of any handover in the past. If it was handed over to us, why is there a proposal in the works to hand it over to BMC again?”