Mantralaya to Marine Drive, why South Mumbai spots that have never seen flooding went underwater

The Print

29-05-2025

As a result, areas like Mantralaya, Kemps Corner, Flora Fountain, Colaba, and Marine Drive saw roads nearly turn into pools.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was also caught off guard after monsoon arrived earlier than its expected date of 11 June this year. And, while several parts of South Mumbai have seen waterlogging in the past during 'heavy rainfall' events, described by India Meteorological Department (IMD) as rainfall between 64 and 124 mm, several areas in the district, including Nariman Point, received over 200 mm of rain between midnight and 11 am Monday.
Mumbai: Heavy monsoon rains that lashed Mumbai Monday inundated several areas of South Mumbai for the first time. In addition to record rainfall, the waterlogging is attributed to a number of civic issues, including the metro project, blocked drains, and non-functional water pumps at stations.
'We were surprised that some locations which never saw waterlogging got waterlogged. Some locations were expected, but something like Mantralaya, Metro Cinemas was not expected. We were surprised. These are not traditional flooding spots,' BMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar told ThePrint.
On Wednesday, Mumbai suburban guardian minister and BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar visited the BMC office and held meetings with senior officials to take stock of the situation.
Later, while speaking to the media, he said Mumbaikars had to suffer because of certain contractors and senior officers.
'We have spoken to the BMC commissioner, and he accepted that there was an issue with desilting work as well as the water pumps' functionality and availability. BJP will make sure that it stands with BMC and Mumbaikars and gets this work done in the next 8 days,' Shelar said, adding that the commissioner had given assurances in that regard.
He said that a delegation of BJP ex-corporator and functionaries and himself had also asked for a white paper from the civic body's commissioner on the BMC's expenses on various projects in the last two decades.
Reasons for the flooding
On Monday, amid heavy rainfall, new flood-prone areas emerged in South Mumbai with people seen wading through knee-deep water across the district, including Colaba, Metro cinemas, Cuffe Parade, Mantralaya, Churchgate station.
After the floods on 26 July 2005, the last time some of these areas were inundated was in August 2020, when, according to the IMD, Colaba saw nearly 225 mm of rainfall in just 9 hours.
The flooding was particularly surprising given that South Mumbai's drainage system, built by the British over 140 years ago, has a capacity of 50 mm rainfall per hour, as compared to the 25 mm rainfall per hour across the rest of Mumbai.
Town planner Sulakshana Mahajan, while speaking to ThePrint, said that flooding in areas like Mantralaya, which are reclaimed areas and have better planned roads than low-lying lying areas, was unprecedented.
'Town planning is quite neglected, as more than experts, the political class decides what to do. Climate change is a reality, and it has changed the rain pattern in Mumbai. It is complicated,' said Mahajan.
Furthermore, some of the waterlogging could have been avoided had dewatering pumps, essential for flood-prone areas, been working.
Bangar admitted that pumps in areas like Hindmata, Gandhi Market, Chunabhatti and Masjid Bunder were not fully operational, leading to waterlogging. 'These water pumping stations were not fully operational, leading to waterlogging in these areas. This all was avoidable.'
Last year, the BMC reduced the number of pumps across Mumbai from 481 to 417, where some were not required, while others could help the civic body cut its expenditures. It spends Rs 150 crore annually on water pumps, according to the data from the civic body.
Bangar told ThePrint that there will be 15 vehicle-mounted pumps available for South Mumbai by next week. These can then be used to deal with flooding emergencies as and when they arise.
He also suspected that road works and their debris could be other reasons why certain spots were flooded. For instance, Bangar said debris and garbage from the ongoing road works near Oval Maidan had choked the nearby drains and contributed to the waterlogging near Mantralaya.
Among other reasons, BMC is also now assessing incomplete cleaning (desilting) of drains. According to Bangar, 94 percent work was complete for major drains, but only 54 percent of the Mithi river, a crucial drainage channel, and 70 percent of minor drains across Mumbai, including South Mumbai, had been completed.
The Mithi river desilting project is currently under the scanner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police, which is investigating an alleged scam in the allocation of its tenders. Two of the three contractors were accused of the scam.
'That you know and the third one (contractor), we have blacklisted because we found erroneous practices with the contractor. And so, our pace there has slowed down and we need to increase it,' he said.
However, Bangar denied that the concretisation of the road project, undertaken by BMC, was one of the reasons for waterlogging.
'Of 1,174 roads that we had dug up for concretisation, we have finished concrete work on 1,170 roads. Now, on some of the roads, curing work is remaining, which we intend to do in the next 8 days. And that work requires water. So rains won't hamper it,' he said.
Also Read: How Mumbai civic body is using AI to hold contractors accountable during pre-monsoon desilting
Focus on metro line
Mahajan said the work of the underground metro line could also be a reason. 'While constructing the underground metro, I doubt there has been any coordination between the BMC and MMRC (Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation), the nodal agency, regarding drainage pipelines and stormwater. For the metro, it is dug up deep, so whether it is done properly or not is the question.'
On Monday, the Acharya Atre Chowk metro station of the partially opened Metro 3 line—from Aarey JVLR to Acharya Atre Chowk—was shut down after it flooded
This drew criticism since the second leg of this underground metro—BKC to Acharya Atre Chowk—had started operating just two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, in a video statement, Ashwini Bhide, the managing director of the MMRC, said that the station flooded after 11 lakh litres of water from the stormwater drain that had collected in a pit near the exit of the metro station gushed into the station. This, she said, occurred because a combination of high tide and heavy rainfall led the drains to back-charge instead of draining into the sea.
'Acharya Atre Chowk station, which is the terminal station of the commissioned stretch, now has two entry-exits functioning, whereas the station actually has six entry-exits and work on the remaining ones is still ongoing and is likely to be completed in the next two-three months,' she added.
She further said that, while there was a bund wall in place to temporarily protect from floods, it could not handle this 'unprecedented' deluge.
Firstly, let's be clear — 90 mm of rain is not an extreme event for Mumbai. This is the kind of rainfall the city experiences every monsoon, every year.
Secondly, isn't it the core responsibility of @MumbaiMetro3 to plan for extreme events? Because if infrastructure starts… https://t.co/Vvw5noXNZO
— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) May 27, 2025
On Monday, MP and Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad questioned the rush to inaugurate the metro line when work was not completed 'Why were these checks and balances not done? Why wasn't enough precaution taken? How can people trust underground metro travel on heavy rain days? The government must answer, it must fix responsibility. We don't want hyped inaugurations, but basic safety and functionality,' she said on X.
A day later, responding to Bhide's statement, Gaikwad said, in a post on X, 'If infrastructure starts collapsing under routine rainfall, what exactly are we planning for? The officer here is admitting that the flood prevention bund wall they had built was not built for this kind of situation… This isn't just negligence — it's institutional impunity.'
Politics over flooding
Opposition parties Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress lashed out at the BJP-led Mahayuti government, holding it responsible for the flooding.
While speaking to the media Monday, Shiv Sena (UBT) Aaditya Thackeray accused the Maharashtra government of corruption, questing why areas like Hindmata and Gandhi Nagar, which were made made to be flood-free earlier, were inundated.
In a post on X, Monday, he further asked why the newly built road in Kemps Corner caved in, how water got into the metro 3 line, and how waterlogging was reported inside KEM hospital on Nepean Sea Road.
'Why does the BJP hate Mumbai so much? Why does the BJP want to finish Mumbai? The Road scam that I have been exposing—Today we see that Mumbai is suffering due to this scam.' Thackeray has alleged corruption in the road concretisation projects, claiming that a few contractors were favoured.
We are seeing absolute absence of governance in Maharashtra today.
Mumbai has collapsed in the rains, and it's only May.
Last week, it was Andheri Subway and Saki Naka that was flooded.
Today, it is South and Central Mumbai facing the brunt of the BMC being controlled by bjp…
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) May 26, 2025
'The State Government MUST initiate a fair probe into this incompetence,' he added.
However, speaking to the media Wednesday, BJP leader Shelar said the Thackerays were responsible for the current conditions, claiming that they misruled Mumbai through the BMC for 25 years.
'Where has the money gone that was used for the BRIMSTOWAD (Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drain System project) to protect Mumbai from flooding? Why are you fooling the people of Mumbai?' asked Shelar.
The BRIMSTOWAD project, which began in 2005 to improve the city's storm water drainage system, has been ongoing ever since. It included the rehabilitation and augmentation of drains, widening and deepening of nullahs, and construction of pumping stations.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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