Nullah News 07

Juhu: In a unique civic initiative, residents of the Juhu Vile Parle Development (JVPD) Scheme have photographed encroachments along the Irla nullah to gather evidence on the clogging of drains, one of the key reasons for heavy flooding during the recent deluge.

Nullah News 07 - Locals expose clogging of Juhu Nullah

Clean-Up Act
-The entire area of JVPD, one of the best maintained in the western suburbs, was under five feet of water post-26/7. Several ground-floor houses were damaged by floodwater and hundreds of cars parked along the roads are still lying in garages awaiting repairs.

- Harit Desai, member of the JVPD Association, along with a few colleagues followed the route of the nullah and clicked around 30 photographs showing rampant encroachments. “We were shocked to see that shops have been illegally constructed over the nullah on Irla lane, and the municipal corporation is doing nothing about it,’’ he said. The evidence has already been presented to 14 housing societies that are part of the JVPD association.

- Following this, the members now plan to meet senior officials of the municipal corporation to present the evidence and demand action against the encroachments.

- On their part, the societies have already started the work of cleaning up several areas of the Irla nullah, which is the main outlet for the sewage lines in Juhu. The sewage lines empty into the nullah near Cooper Hospital, the municipal market and Amitabh Bachchan’s bungalow. It is these points that are choked with dirt, Desai said. “The situation is so bad that the nullah water starts flowing back into the drains during high tide,’’ he said. Since the BMC has failed to clean the nullahs, the societies have spent Rs 4 lakh on this work.

- Local MLA Ashok Jadhav, too, admitted that the nullahs are not cleaned and said this was the main reason for flooding. “In lots of cases, there is illegal reclamation of land around the nullahs, and the municipal corporation has not taken any action,’’ he said. In the wake of 26/7, local residents said the neighbourhood has also united to make its own arrangements for removal of garbage. “We hired six trucks and removed nearly 250 truckloads of garbage after the deluge. We also sprayed pesticides on garbage dumps,’’ he said.
News Source - TOI - 23.09.05