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BMC, citizens to form joint committee to resolve Malabar Hill reservoir logjam

Nov 01, 2023 07:24 AM IST

The decision was taken after a meeting between citizens, Lodha, BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and other senior officials of the civic body

MUMBAI: The civic body and guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha on Tuesday decided to form a committee along with citizens to resolve the logjam on the Malabar Hill reservoir reconstruction issue. The present plan necessitates the chopping/transplantation of 389 trees near Hanging Garden, which residents of the area have been stringently opposing.

HT Image
HT Image

The decision was taken after a meeting between citizens, Lodha, BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and other senior officials of the civic body. Confirming the development, Lodha said the committee would comprise civic officials, experts and members from citizen groups who would jointly decide on the future course of action.

The citizens, in a meeting held at the BMC, also demanded that an official confirmation in writing be given to them that status quo would be maintained on the project. When questioned, P Velrasu, additional commissioner (projects), told HT that unless the report from the committee was submitted, status quo would be maintained. He added that so far, no work orders had been cancelled but the project was on hold.

Dr Nilesh Baxi, a regular at Hanging Garden who was present at the meeting, said that the BMC in its original plan had mentioned that the reservoir could be repaired in parts, which would lead to an additional 23 MLD (million litres per day) tank being built. Baxi alleged that after the contractor was appointed, he procured reports from three institutions/organisations stating that the whole reservoir needed to be demolished and rebuilt, which would need an additional 91 MLD tank to be built nearby, causing 389 trees to be axed/transplanted.

“How is it that the contractor got new reports from these agencies after starting the project?” asked Baxi. “The committee set up today will include citizens as well so that we can decide the route ahead. If the reservoir can be repaired in parts as the original IIT report stated, then why not?”

Bakshi added that they hoped to come to a consensus on the issue. “We will be nominating engineers who are part of our citizens’ group on the new committee so that our case is presented well,” he said. “We want to save as many trees as possible.”

HT on October 15 had reported that the BMC’s change in plans from its original 2018 plan was leading to more trees being cut. The document, which was part of an RTI query accessed by activist Zoru Bhathena, had a letter from the water supply project department to the gardens department. The letter stated, “Meanwhile, due to site constraints, Malabar Hill reservoir (MHR) project is revised. An additional reservoir on the west side of existing MHR (91 ML) & a valve gallery on sloping Garden (on East side) is included in the original work. Due to this revision, some additional trees (are) getting affected due to this inclusion & on other hand some trees along walls were getting saved as some walls of existing reservoir are now proposed to be retain.” (sic)

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