The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has laid down a detailed programme to avoid water logging in the monsoon at sites which are under its jurisdiction.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana said they would put up barricades at construction project sites like the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro railway and the monorail, which will run on the 19.29km Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk (Jacob Circle)-Wadala-Chembur route. Pumps would also be installed to drain out water in case of water logging and debris would be cleared from these sites by May 31 or June 3.
A senior MMRDA official said that such pumps to drain out water would be installed on roads maintained by the authority, like the Andheri Ghatkopar Link Road (AGLR) (over which the Metro corridor will pass), the Eastern Freeway and RC Marg, where the construction of the elevated monorail line is underway.
He added that they planned to complete the desilting of Mithi river by May 31. A control room will also be set up to handle complaints about water logging and inconvenience to people, following which machinery will be deployed at site offices for projects like the Metro and monorail to take remedial measures in case of flooding.
The MMRDA plans to commission the first phase (8.922km) of the monorail from Wadala to Chembur, which will be the first line in India by the end of December 2012. The second phase, at 10.368km, is expected to take another year to complete.
The officials added that other chronic flooding spots in the city, like Milan subway, would be handled by the BMC and the MMRDA was making these provisions only on the few roads under their jurisdiction as “substitute arrangements.” The MMRDA has around 45km of roads under its jurisdiction.
A few years ago, two boys had drowned in a pool at the site of the 11.40km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro construction at Asalfa during the monsoon. Subsequently, meshes were put up across the surface of such pools. The Metro railway corridor, construction work on which has been underway since February 2008, has 12 elevated stations.
