Blame it on Metro: Sobo drowns after heavy rain, MMRC braces for action

Areas that are not traditionally floodprone areas were hit on Sunday, as a result of Metro3 work

MUMBAI: After Metro work sites such as Hutatma Chowk, Vidhan Bhavan and Cuffe Parade – which are not flood-prone spots – were waterlogged during the downpour on Sunday, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), in a meeting with the civic body on Thursday agreed to take prevention measures.

This comes after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on June 29, wrote to MMRC, stating that it found the agency’s anti-waterlogging measures inadequate. According to MMRC, the steps it will take now include increasing the size of sedimentation tanks and the number of dewatering pumps.

The Metro agency also said it will not pump rainwater directly into the existing stormwater drain lines.

These measures will be implemented along the Metro-3 (Colaba- Bandra-seepz) spots in south Mumbai.

“MMRC and BMC are working together to deal with issues related to heavy rainfall. There were many positive suggestions which were mutually agreed upon,” said an MMRC spokesperson.

BMC had, in its letter, observed that a sedimentation tank was not installed at any of the Metro stations, as a result of which slurry water was directly being discharged into the ward’s stormwater drainage

system, without the civic body’s permission.

The civic body had also said there should be 10 dewatering pumps at Hutatma Chowk, but only six had been provided.

“These areas are not traditional flooding spots and have been inundated owing to Metro work,” the BMC had observed in the letter.

The civic body had also threatened action against MMRCL for damaging the city’s stormwater drainage system. Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar had in May said BMC cannot be held responsible for waterlogging near Metro sites. MMRCL had then decided to install 241 dewatering pumps at Metro sites, where there is a possibility of waterlogging.