Mumbai civic body fails to complete repair of box drains at flood-prone Hindmata

The BMC is replacing underground British-era drains in Hindmata to double their water-carrying capacity from 25mm to 50mm

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that Hindmata in central Mumbai is likely to see flooding during this monsoon because it has not been able to complete repair work on the British era box drain in this area, which is prone to waterlogging.

The BMC is replacing underground British-era drains in Hindmata to double their water-carrying capacity from 25mm to 50mm. The work includes widening of the 800 meter-long storm water drain at Hindmata from 1.5x1.2 meters to into 3x1.5 meters. The cost of the widening of the drain is ₹11.20 crore. The project is part of the BMC’s larger plan to replace British-era drains in several low-lying areas include Byculla, Mumbai Central, Currey Road, Elphinstone, Mahalaxmi, and Worli. While explaining the ongoing work at Hindmata to the civic body’s standing committee on Friday, the BMC said that the existing box drain was blocked and would be replaced by a bigger one to increase the water receding time.

The existing box drain is between 70 and 80 years old, and blocked by roots of trees that have entered the drain. There’s only 5-10 percent of space for water to be flushed out. Chief Engineer (storm water drains) VH Khandkar told councillors that widening box drains would allow water to recede quicker.

“The flooding situation has improved from waist deep water to below knee length during monsoons. The widening of the box drain at the spot is very important as it will help increase the water receding time,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Ravi Raja said, “The work on the box drain was started in January this year. Had the administration initiated the work post-monsoon (in October last year), it would have been completed by now. Why did the administration take so long to decide on repairing the box drain?” Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party councillor, said, “How can the administration ask citizens to adjust during monsoons? This clearly means that they will not complete the work on time and the ones most affected by it will be the citizens.”