Latest news with #BRIMSTOWAD
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
80 new flooding spots, most of them in SoBo, identified after Monday downpour
Mumbai: Of the 120 waterlogging complaints registered with the municipality following Monday's downpour, the highest were from A and B wards — 23 and 22, respectively— in south Mumbai covering areas such as Crawford Market, Churchgate station, and Ballard Estate, showed an internal BMC analysis report. Notably, 80 of the 120 locations were new flooding spots, which civic officials attributed to the unusually heavy rainfall — ranging from 77mm to 104mm — particularly between 9am and 10am on Monday. The new waterlogging-prone areas included the road outside Metro Cinema, Metro Junction, Crawford Market, Ballard Estate Road, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar near the Ford showroom, Ghol Masjid, SGS Road at Chowpatty, the stretch from Azad Maidan to Metro, Cuffe Parade Police Colony, Navy Nagar BEST Depot, Ganesh Murti Nagar Gully No. 9, Churchgate station, Mantralaya office premises and the subway near St Xavier's College. Other affected sites included Dr D N Road opposite Siddharth College, 4th Pasta Lane, Mantralaya Junction, the stretch from Cumballa Hill Junction to Pedder Road, especially on the flyover near Jaslok Hospital, and Harkisandas Hospital. According to BMC's internal remarks, despite stormwater drains being operational, the high tide at 10.30am prevented proper drainage. In some places, such as Churchgate, St Xavier's subway, and Ballard Estate, the water could not be discharged efficiently due to tide-induced backflow. During a Wednesday debriefing, BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani pulled up civic officials for poor preparedness during Monday's downpour, especially in south Mumbai, and ordered a review of dewatering systems to assess the need for more pumps at new flood-prone spots. Later, guardian minister of Mumbai Suburban district Ashish Shelar, along with a delegation of former corporators, met Gagrani and urged the release of a white paper detailing the Rs 1 lakh crore spent over the past 20 years on various projects, including BRIMSTOWAD. Meanwhile, a day after issuing a yellow alert for Mumbai, indicating moderate to heavy rainfall, till Friday morning, the IMD, in its 5-day forecast released on Wednesday afternoon, said the yellow alert will be in place only till Thursday morning.
Indian Express
28-05-2025
- Climate
- Indian Express
An early monsoon and the urban planning challenge
The monsoon arrived in Kerala on Sunday, more than a week before schedule. It took a day to advance towards Maharashtra, and reached Mumbai on Monday, 16 days before its expected arrival — the earliest onset of the season in at least 75 years. Normal life in the city, which has experienced its wettest May in the past 107 years, was thrown off gear. Its low-lying areas were inundated, public transport was badly hit, and uprooted trees aggravated traffic snarls. Much of the disruption was admittedly because the downpour was unanticipated. The city's municipality had set a deadline of June 7 to complete the desilting of drains. It was able to undertake a little more than 70 per cent of this task before the rains arrived. Since the catastrophic floods of 2005, steps taken by the BMC — widening stormwater drains and adding pumping stations, for instance — have reduced the monsoon-related problems of Mumbaikars to an extent. However, the BRIMSTOWAD project, initiated to overhaul the city's drainage system after 2005 tragedy, remains incomplete. Designed more than 150 years ago to deal with 25 mm of rainfall per hour, spread out through the monsoon season, the city's drainage system is ill-equipped to deal with the recent changes in weather patterns — relatively short but intense downpours. On Monday, for instance, several parts of Mumbai received 170 mm to 250 mm rain. The problem gets compounded because the catchment areas of some of the natural water bodies — the Mithi River, for instance — have been taken over by real estate. Reclaiming this land might be difficult. However, stopping garbage dumping into water bodies could substantially improve their health — and ability to absorb the rains. Several parts of the country have experienced an unusually wet summer this year. Last week, Bengaluru was battered by rainfall. Like Mumbai, Karnataka's capital, too, hasn't invested much in drainage overhaul, and the city has lost most of its lakes. Similarly, Delhi, which has received nine times the normal rainfall in May, hasn't revamped its drainage system since 1976. The crisis speaks of a governance crisis, even though the municipalities of Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru are amongst the country's richest. It's time they — and their counterparts in other parts of the country — recognised that dealing with weather vagaries is a key part of their mandate. Flooding and waterlogging incidents are not irritants — these hurt the economy, affect people's livelihoods and claim lives.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
BMC being run by CM office, says Aaditya; Shinde defends civic performance
Mumbai: With BMC polls looming, the Opposition attacked the BJP and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde for the chaos in the city after Monday's heavy downpour. SS (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray pointed out that the civic corporation was being run by an administrator who was directly under the control of the CM and deputy CM as local body polls had not been held. "The BMC is being run by the chief minister's office and the urban development department (led by Shinde) because no polls have been held. The rains have revealed the BJP's corruption. The city cannot trust the BJP because then the state of the Gokhale bridge will be repeated across the city," he alleged. "Shinde lied when he said Mumbai would be pot-hole free in two years. He only filled the holes in his own pockets," Thackeray said. "This is not the first spell of rain this season. We have been saying for the last two months that nullah safai has not been done properly," he said. Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad said on X, "After the first rain, Mumbai has come to a standstill. It has been held to ransom by this corrupt regime and its contractor friends." NCP-SP MLA Jitendra Awhad said, "When his (Uddhav) party was in power, some of the leaders who are now in the ruling party used to cry hoarse questioning Thackeray's absence during water logging in Mumbai. Why have they gone silent now?" State culture minister Ashish Shelar from the BJP, hit back at the SS (UBT) saying the Thackeray-led Sena had been in power in the BMC for decades and established a nexus with corrupt contractors. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trade Bitcoin & Ethereum – No Wallet Needed! IC Markets Start Now Undo Shelar said Thackeray was angry because the Mahayuti govt had cracked down on fixers and the contractor cartel. Aaditya Thackeray was "enjoying in a foreign country" when members of the government were checking nullahs, he added. "For 25 years, UBT Sena and BMC contractors looted Mumbai. They looted Rs 3 lakh crores spent by the BMC on Mumbai roads. The UBT Sena did not complete BRIMSTOWAD work to prevent Mumbai from flooding," Shelar said on X. Meanwhile, Shinde and state disaster management minister Girish Mahajan visited the BMC headquarters to assess the situation. Defending BMC's performance, Shinde said the monsoon usually sets in after June 10 in the city. The early onset brought over 250 mm of rainfall in a single day—five times the expected daily average—resembling a cloudburst. "This led to major disruptions across the city. Although suburban rail services have resumed, BEST buses must be deployed at key railway stations in case of further interruptions. Water logging in low-lying areas has been addressed and the BMC has been instructed to keep these pumps fully operational," he said.
