Activists, residents submit suggestions to BMC over Malabar Hill Reservoir’s fate

In the letter, which comes in response to the civic notice inviting suggestions on methodology, residents wrote that the civic body must curb all plans to reconstruct the reservoir, including all ongoing works pertaining to shifting of the pumping station.

“These repairs to the reservoir’s roof will have to be carried out via scaffolding with a working platform at roof level. This working platform is above the water storage level. Such scaffoldings can be erected in the water. The reservoir compartment does not need to be isolated or dewatered for erecting such scaffoldings,” read a part of the letter.

The suggestions come along the heels of senior BMC officials writing to the dean of IIT Bombay, requesting the formation of a panel comprising IIT professors to submit the final report on the subject.

According to senior civic officials, recommendations submitted by the IIT committee will be treated as the final report to determine the fate of the century-old reservoir.

Last year, the civic proposal to reconstruct the Malabar Hill reservoir met with fierce local opposition. Amongst the several criticisms levied by residents, many had raised concerns to the proposal which was slated to affect 389 trees, of which 189 were due to be axed entirely.

Taking cognisance of the flak to the project plan, the civic body had constituted an eight-member panel — comprising four IIT professors, three local representatives with expertise on technical subjects as well as a senior BMC official — in a bid to determine the reservoir’s structural integrity. The interim report had highlighted that the reservoir only needed minor repairs.