Mumbai didn’t flood in 2016, won’t flood this year, says Uddhav Thackeray

We are aiming for a flood-free monsoon and the civic body is working on that, said Thackeray.

The city did not flood last year and won’t flood this year either, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray claimed on Tuesday.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray reviews the desilting work with BMC chief Ajoy Mehta. (HT photo)

With monsoon a month away, Thackeray, whose party is in power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray and municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, inspected the progress of the desilting work in the city.

“Mumbai didn’t flood last year and it will not flood this year too,” said Thackeray.

Asked whether the pre-monsoon desilting work would be completed before monsoon, Thackeray said that desilting work was an ongoing process.

“I have no interest in the percentage of silt removed as desilting is a continuous process and the civic body will continue the work in monsoon too. The aim is for a flood-free monsoon and the civic body is working on that,” said Thackeray.

In 2015, the civic body’s inquiry into the drain desilting work found malpractices and shoddy work. The Sena and the BJP have been fighting to take credit for unearthing the scam.

Taunting its former ally, BJP, Thackeray said that every year cities such as Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi (BJP is the governing party) sees heavy floods, but not Mumbai.

The cleaning of big storm water drains in the city started from April 1. The ward officials started work on small nullahs on April 7. The BMC claimed to have finished 48.26% of nullah-cleaning work and expects to finish the work by June.

Opposition leader Ravi Raja also inspected the nullah-cleaning work and released photographs of dirty nullhas, refuting BMC’s claims.