HC slams state for failing to protect rivers, floodplains

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court onfridayslammedmaharashtra government for failing to take protective measures to safeguard river banks and floodplains in absence of specific river regulatory policy, either by the state or the Central government.

“Neither are you framing any policy, nor are they (the Central government) and in the meanwhile, constructions are being made on floodplains and polluting industries are being set up along river banks,” the division bench of justice Shantanu Kemkar and justice Sarang Kotwal said while hearing a public interest litigation filed by city NGO, Vanshakti.

The counsel for the petitioner body, senior advocate Gayatri Singh, pointed out that the state had framed a river regulatory policy, but has withdrawn it long back, leaving the river floodplains and banks completely unregulated. Singh pointed out that in the absence of a mechanism to regulate constructions along river banks, large-scale construction of residential projects and resorts was being undertaken along river banks.

Assistant government leader Milind More responded saying the Water Act is a Central legislation and the Central government is in the process of framing a panindia river regulatory policy under the enactment.

The judges were irked after Singh pointed out that the Centre had come out with the draft policy way back in 2000 and nothing was being done in the meanwhile to protect rivers. She urged the court to direct the irrigation department of the state to at least earmark river flood-planes and create the buffer zones as ordered by the Supreme Court in Ganga river pollution case.

“Are you not supposed to act in the meanwhile and protect rivers and floodplains?,” the bench sought to know from More.

It has now directed the state government to state in an affidavit the measures it proposed to take to protect rivers from unregulated constructions and industries. MUMBAI: With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) starting trials for 24x7 water supply project in H-west ward from Friday, Bandra and Santacruz may soon get water supply for more time.

On an average, each household in Mumbai gets about three to four hours of water daily. BMC manages to supply 3750 million litres of water daily, against the city’s demand of 4200 million litres.

The project, although called 24x7, is not aimed at around-theclock supply, but will ensure the supply is for longer hours. The trial is expected to start in Mulund from next month on a pilot basis.

Sanjay Mukherjee, additional municipal commissioner (projects), said, “Once the network stabilises, the water supply will improve manifold. We have started testing at four water places in Bandra and will finish the work at the ward shortly.”

“The project looks at increasing the supply hours four to five times. Around-the-clock water supply is not possible owing to the massive size of the distribution network in Mumbai. Once these two wards are completed, we will take a call regarding extending the scheme to the rest of the suburbs”

As part of the project, the civic body has installed pressure regulatory valves and flow meters in the water mains in Bandra (West).

A senior official from BMC’S hydraulics department said, “Pressure valves will control the flow of water and increase the pressure without releasing excess water and adding on to the cost.”

The work on the water distribution improvement project (WDIP), to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, began in 2014.

Under the project, the civic body planned to offer 10 services that included quality assurance for water, leak detection in pipes, geographical information system (GIS) mapping for the existing water supply network, asset registration, customer survey and customer relationship management, among others.

Another civic official said controlling the pressure of water supply will help eliminate water contamination and leakages.

“In order to ensure that all parts of the city receive proper water supply, it is released in excessive pressure,” he said.

“This causes leakages in pipes, leading to water contamination. Control on the pressure will avoid such major problems we have been facing for years,” he said.