BMC officials meet Marine Drive residents to allay vibration fears
On Wednesday, at the meeting held between the residents and the civic officials at Maharashtra Assembly speaker and Colaba legislator Rahul Narwekar’s office in Vidhan Bhavan
Mumbai Residents of Marine Drive met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials on Wednesday regarding the vibrations they have been feeling inside their homes at high tide.
The residents, mostly from Govind Mahal and Shree Niketan buildings, located between G and F roads in Marine Drive, have complained of these vibrations since the end of last week, as reported in HT. The residents attributed this to the removal of tetrapods from the Marine Drive shoreline. On July 18, the BMC had said that the tetrapods were removed temporarily to make sure there is uninterrupted flow of water from the Storm Water Drain (SWD) outfalls during the monsoon.
On Wednesday, at the meeting held between the residents and the civic officials at Maharashtra Assembly speaker and Colaba legislator Rahul Narwekar’s office in Vidhan Bhavan, it was decided that vibration monitoring machines will be placed inside these buildings to ascertain the intensity of the vibrations. Earlier this week, after residents had lodged a complaint with municipal commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, the BMC officials had studied the readings of vibration monitoring machines at the site and had said that they are at a normal level. These machines were situated at the project site, which is just a few meters away from these buildings.
Harshita Narwekar, former corporator from this area, who had been following this issue and attended the meeting, said that the primary objective of this meeting was to ensure the residents and BMC officials hear each other out.
“The BMC officials have said that they have already started placing back the tetrapods and it will take at least a few more days for the process to be completed, since it can be done only during low tide,” Narwekar said.
Anirudh Somani, a resident of Shree Niketan building, who faced the tremors, said that the present weather conditions are different from what it was last week when they felt the brunt of the vibrations. “When we experienced the vibrations, there were high tides and gusty winds blowing at a high-speed,” said Somani. He said that there was a need to keep a check on the intensity of vibrations regularly. “Therefore, we have requested them to place one such machines inside our building compound as well,” he said.
Atul Kumar from the Nariman Point Churchgate Citizen’s Welfare Trust, who was also present at the meeting, said that the BMC officials had confirmed that they have not damaged the retaining wall of the seashore and have also promised to speed up putting the tetrapods back at their original spot at the earliest.
Meanwhile, a senior official associated with this project said, “We have checked the readings at the project site and now as per requests made by residents, we will do the same inside the building premises as well. We have already directed the contractors to get in touch with residents and monitor the vibration inside their compound.”
