Gearing up for the monsoon, departments throughout Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC) have been at work to implement a slew of measures to forestall flooding in Mumbai this season.
In Mumbai, the official date of monsoon onset is June 11. Whereas the date of onset differs annually, usually May 31 is set as the ultimate deadline for all pre-monsoon preparedness actions within the metropolis starting from desilting, cleansing to deployment of dewatering equipment because the due date to shut civil street building works like the continuing concretisation undertaking.
Drawing classes from the earlier yr when a traditionally early onset of monsoon on May 26 caught the administration unaware and underprepared, the BMC set an early deadline for a number of works like procurement and deployment of flood mitigation equipment. Nonetheless, this yr too, May 31 was earmarked as the ultimate deadline for completion of pre-monsoon works like tree trimming train and desilting of Mumbai’s main and minor drains in addition to the Mithi river.
With the May 31 goal coming to shut and southwest monsoon quick approaching, The Indian Specific takes inventory of the BMC’s monsoon preparedness to assess town’s readiness for the upcoming season.
Mithi river desilting incomplete
An annual train, desilting of Mumbai’s massive and minor storm water drains in addition to the Mithi river is carried out by the BMC to improve the holding capability of the waterbed and stop flooding. Of the full goal, the civic physique goals to extract 80 % of silt throughout pre-monsoon interval, 10 % throughout monsoon and 10 % through the post-monsoon interval.
This yr, the BMC had set a May 31 deadline to extract 8.41 lakh metric tonnes of silt as part of its pre-monsoon desilting train throughout town’s minor, main drains and Mithi river.
Nonetheless, the civic physique has solely been in a position to obtain 69 % of its whole desilting goal at Mithi river till Sunday (May 31) morning.
Story continues under this advert
In distinction, the BMC has achieved one hundred pc of its goal for town’s main and minor nullahs.
When contacted, a senior official instructed The Indian Specific, “We’re aiming to obtain 75 % of our goal for Mithi river earlier than the onset of monsoon. Throughout the desilting train, particular focus was laid on clearing silt from the flood susceptible pockets of the river. Whereas one hundred pc of the goal would have been best, we’re assured that even 75 % of the goal circumstances of flooding at Mithi river will probably be mitigated.”
Desilting of Mithi river is essential to keep away from overflow of river water and deluge in close by slum pockets in addition to main routes within the neighborhood. Final yr, for occasion, slum pockets of Kranti Nagar had been inundated after waters at Mithi river breached the hazard ranges and overflowed into the streets. Whilst desilting of Mithi usually commences on March 1, this yr, the work was delayed owing to delayed appointment of contractors over lack of enough curiosity from bidders.
Tree trimming and removing of useless timber
With experiences of tree collapses amidst gusty winds reported through the monsoon season, the BMC carries out a pre-monsoon tree trimming train throughout town. This yr, the BMC set a goal to prune 84,819 timber between April and May 31.
Story continues under this advert
Knowledge shared by the BMC on Sunday confirmed that to date, the civic physique has pruned 67,274 timber.
On May 31, the civic physique on the behest of the Central Railways carried out a particular drive to trim branches of timber leaning over railway tracks and energy traces throughout a particular megablock. “Throughout monsoon season, branches of timber alongside the railway line can fall over railway traces and tracks due to wind. This may disrupt rail companies and put the passengers in danger. Due to this fact, we executed a particular drive to get rid of any such dangers,” the BMC on Sunday mentioned.
Senior officers instructed The Indian Specific that the tree trimming train will proceed even previous the deadline, if authorities and residents determine new harmful timber which might pose a risk to passersby. Earlier on May 10, a tree collapse in Khar critically injured two women of whom one, Aarika Srivastava, succumbed to her accidents after per week lengthy battle.
Mastic cookers for potholes
Come monsoons, heavy downpour leads to surfacing of potholes throughout Mumbai’s roads. To make town’s roads pothole free, the BMC in 2022 launched the Rs 17,000 crore mega-concretisation undertaking which seeks to pave 700 km of roads in concrete.
Story continues under this advert
Nonetheless, with solely 80 % of the full concretisation goal achieved till now, a number of asphalt roads might proceed to expertise potholes amidst put on and tear. Dewatering pumps
Dewatering pumps
Senior officers confirmed that the BMC has put in 547 dewatering pumps throughout town’s flood susceptible pockets this yr.
Moreover, the BMC has additionally made provisions for 10 car mounted pump programs to sort out water logging in low mendacity areas. Outfitted with good monitoring programs, the pumps are located in flood-prone pockets and operationalised to flush collected rainwater into the closest drains throughout heavy downpours.
Final yr, the BMC had deployed 510 pumps within the metropolis after the initially proposed 417 pumps proved ineffective throughout excessive rains that lashed Mumbai on May 26, 2025. In 2024, the municipal physique had pressed 482 dewatering pumps. The rise within the whole variety of pumps deployed comes alongside the heels of the rise in whole flood-prone pockets of town. Knowledge exhibits Mumbai has witnessed a ten % spike in flood-prone areas over the previous yr with 498 flooding spots recognized in Mumbai this yr, towards 453 within the earlier yr.
Source link
#deadline #shut #prepared #Mumbai #monsoons
