Despite spending crores,no respite from waterlogging

“This time,there was heavy waterlogging at Milan Subway despite three operational draining pumps,” said Chief Engineer Storm Water Drains L S Vhatkar.

He added,“The flooding happens because the desilting in the local minor nullah is not done properly due to encroachments in that area. Also,the sewer lines overflow during excess rains.”

According to BMC officials,every year over Rs 30 lakh is spent by the civic administration to avoid waterlogging at Milan Subway. Despite the efforts and after spending lakhs on micro-tunneling work to connect the storm water drains in the subway area to the larger sewer lines across the highway five years back,the vital east-west linking subway has continued to be inundated in heavy rains,causing serious traffic pile-ups.

Every year,the BMC installs draining pumps to check waterlogging in the area and an elevated ramp for traffic flow. The installation of the ramp costs about Rs 15-20 lakh,while each draining pump costs about Rs 4-5 lakh including maintenance,said a civic official. The BMC has installed 3 such pumps at Milan Subway this year. But it could not install the elevated ramp at the subway in the absence of approval from traffic police.

Besides,the Irla nullah pumping station failed to prevent waterlogging in Juhu and neighbouring areas as the city received its first spell of heavy rains on June 12 this year. The imported automatic pumping technology at the Irla pumping station was installed last year and was to be tested this monsoon. “The garbage clearing system was kept on manual mode since we could not depend on the automatic system in case of heavy rains,” Vhatkar said. The Irla pumping station is part of the ambitious Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage Project (Brimstowad) project,touted as the only solution to the city’s waterlogging woes.