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Maintaining that it is fully prepared for the upcoming monsoon, the BMC on Thursday said it has completed all pre-monsoon works like desilting of stormwater drains and trimming of trees, among others. It added that the situation would be reviewed periodically. The civic body further said that it has held meetings with officials handling major infrastructural projects like Metro and coastal road works to ensure that channels carrying rainwater from these construction sites do not have any blockage.
Owing to climate change and corresponding extreme rain events, the BMC said that in case of excessive rain, it has pre-positioned National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army and Navy teams, including divers.
Moreover, this year, two additional NDRF teams will be deployed for three wards that cover areas like Bhandup, Powai, Vikhroli and Ghatkopar, which are prone to landslides.
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On Thursday, a meeting on monsoon preparedness was held at BMC headquarters at Fort, chaired by the municipal commissioner. Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu said that of the five NDRF teams, three would be stationed in Andheri and the rest at the wards. “The teams would be equipped to carry out search and rescue operations during calamities like flood and building collapse.”
“This is the first time that five columns of the Army will be present in the city,” said a civic official, adding that each column is known to have around 100 personnel.
With over 50 people losing their lives in landslides in the last three years in Mumbai, the BMC is training people in rescue operation, crowd control, casualty carrying method, contacting and directing authorities to the site, first aid administration, carrying the disabled and the elderly and living in landslide-prone areas.
“On Thursday, we held a meeting with the meteorological department, which indicated that the monsoon can reach Mumbai in around a week. We have completed all pre-monsoon works at our end… desilting of drains have been completed. Of the 100-plus flooding sites, we have carried infrastructure works in around 30 areas so far,” said Velrasu.
He added, “One problem that Mumbai faces is that many areas are below the sea level and while we are capable of handling 60-70 mm of rainfall per hour, if there is extreme rainfall, like more than 200 mm, in a matter of few hours, it will pose a problem.”
The BMC has installed 477 dewatering pumps at flooding spots. In addition, representatives of 14 emergency support function units has been told to be present in the control room during high tide (more than 4.5 m) and on heavy rainfall warning days.
According to BMC officials, this year, they will look at resolving pothole issues within 24 to 48 hours. “People who raise a complaint either on the MyBMC Pothole FixIt mobile app or website would see a civic engineer attend to the problem within 24 hours… the same will be resolved within 48 hours,” said Velrasu.
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