Malabar Hill ALM suggests CPWD land for water tank to save 389 trees

The Little Gibbs Road Advanced Locality Management has suggested to the BMC that they use a CPWD plot to build a water tank and avoid cutting down trees.

The city’s oldest and Malabar Hill’s first citizens’ group, Little Gibbs Road Advanced Locality Management, has suggested to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that it explore using a Central Public Works Department (CPWD) plot on the western side of Hanging Gardens to build a water tank. As many as 389 trees will be affected if BMC goes ahead with construction on its proposed piece of land behind Hanging Gardens.

Mumbai, India - Nov. 3, 2023: CPWD land plot at Walkeshwar, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, November 3, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The tank, with a capacity to hold 90 million litres per day, has been proposed as a back-up to meet the requirements of major parts of south Mumbai when the old Malabar Hill reservoir beneath Hanging Gardens goes under demolition and reconstruction.

An official from BMC’s waterworks department told HT that the suggestion would be duly explored. “The Little Gibbs Road ALM has suggested a plot of land near Malabar House in Hyderabad estate in CPWD colony. It is a huge open plot belonging to the Central government. The feasibility will be explored first and then permissions can be taken from the Centre. There are no trees but bushes and a lawn on that land. Our only concern is that it is at a lower level and goes downwards. Hence one will have to pump water upwards. We will get IIT Bombay’s and other experts’ opinion on that matter.”

BMC will check the technical feasibility and financial viability of any workable suggestion put forth by residents, the official said. “If it is technically feasible, the alternate tank can be built on the CPWD plot with minimum excavation and no loss of trees.”

Indrani Malkani, founder secretary, Little Gibbs Road ALM, said the CPWD plot is on the western side of Hanging Gardens which is on the lower gradient of Malabar Hill reservoir. “The western slope of the reservoir gets onto a flatter land and this CPWD plot is on the western side of that land. Immediately, there is a drop and there are steps going down to Nepean Sea Road. If you go down the steps, Godrej Baug comes on the right and this CPWD plot comes on the left.”

The CPWD plot was a bootleggers’ haven with weed and overgrown vegetation and was out of bounds to the public, Malkani said. “We came to know that it did not belong to the state government or BMC. We managed to get CPWD to work with us and had that area cleaned. There was leakage of water from the western wall of reservoir into that area. CPWD made a bund wall to contain it. Water reservoirs are equally important as trees. Therefore, a suggestion was given to BMC to build an overhead or underground alternate tank depending on whether it meets the hydraulic engineer’s requirement.”

“Because by doing so, you do not have to touch any of the 389 trees behind Hanging Gardens where the tank is currently proposed to be constructed,” she added.

When queried last week about this suggestion, P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner, had said, “We will refer all workable suggestions to IITB who will study their technical feasibility.”