Before monsoons, BMC to start end-to-end desilting of nullahs across Mumbai

In order to avoid waterlogging during monsoons, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to start desilting of nullahs in advance. This year, the civic body aims to clean nullahs from one end to another.

Earlier, contractors used to desilt only those areas which were prone to silting and flooding. According to a senior civic official, the end-to-end desilting will counter chances of waterlogging during the rainy season. "There are various reasons that lead to waterlogging during monsoons. It often occurs if silt is not removed properly," the official said. He added that instead of carrying out desilting in parts, end-to-end nullah cleaning will be done.

The civic chief during his monthly review meeting directed assistant commissioners of every ward to monitor the nullah cleaning work and spot areas prone to waterlogging. "There are spots where water takes time to get cleared from and the root cause of the problem must besolved," the official said.

During this year's monsoon, the civic body had appointed 57 contractors to carry out desilting of nullahs. However, in 2017, the BMC struggled to get contractors and the desilting work got affected.

In the western suburbs, the major catchment (waterlogged) locations are Andheri east and west, Kherwadi, Bharat Nagar, Jogeshwari, Santacruz and Khar among others. The eastern suburbs get waterlogged at Kurla, Sakinaka, Mulund, and Bhandup.

The civic body has also planned to make around 60 spots immune to flooding. Last year, there were 225 flooding spots of which the civic body had carried out technical work at 129 spots and made them flood-free to some extent.

The Fitwala lane, one of the chronic flooding spots at Lower Parel, and also where well-known gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkar died after falling into an open manhole in 2017, was made flood-free. The BMC made several changes in the sewage pipelines to eliminate waterlogging along this stretch. It has also removed over 70 illegal structures in Kamgar Nagar and has converted the 'old three pipeline' structure to a single concrete box drain.