Nullah News o6 - Slums around nullahs will delay Brimstowad
Down the Drain
The delay will cost the citizens dearly as they would have to wait for six years to see a flood-free Mumbai FILE PIC
- It’s not just a couple of years, you would have to wait for at least six years to stop seeing your home getting flooded every monsoon. Reason?
- The BMC doesn’t have tenements to house 25,000 families who live in slums near the nullahs, which have to be widened as per the Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drain (Brimstowad) project.
- “It could take a minimum of six years to complete the project, simply because there are no houses available for these people. There has been no effort to construct houses or to find accommodation for these people.
- This is unfortunately going to cost citizens dearly as the nullahs cannot be widened without rehabilitating these people,” said a storm water department official.
- The civic body claims that the Brimstowad project would solve much of the city’s flooding problem as drainage capacity of the drains would be increased from the current 40 mm per hour to 50 mm per hour.
Phatak allays fears
- Municipal Commissioner Jayraj Phatak, however, claimed that they had enough tenements. “We have enough tenements and would acquire more tenements from other agencies as well as from our own rehab projects,” he said.
- But if a storm water department official is to be believed, the BMC has managed to provide tenements to only around 450 families so far.
- “The BMC is hoping that MMRDA would provide some tenements but the latter is itself struggling to house dwellers that have encroached on the airport land,” said the official.
- The tenements for 450 families have been purchased from either the Shiv Shahi Punarvasan Prakalp or from the MMRDA.
- The BMC pays an approximate Rs 4 lakh to these agencies for acquiring these tenements.
- There are around 20 nullahs in the city, all of which have been encroached and occupied by hutment dwellers.
News Source - Mid-Day
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