Another MMRDA contractor breaks water pipe

Two water pipelines, a 30-inch pipe at R C Marg, and a 12-inch pipe at Acharya Marg, both at Chembur, broke on Saturday, affecting supply to Sindhi Society, BPCL, HPCL and Tata Power Company.

Two water pipelines, a 30-inch pipe at R C Marg, and a 12-inch pipe at Acharya Marg, both at Chembur, broke on Saturday, affecting supply to Sindhi Society, BPCL, HPCL and Tata Power Company.

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This is the second pipeline burst involving a Monorail contractor this week, after a 24-inch pipeline at Chembur was damaged by an MMRDA-appointed contractor earlier this week.

“We will file an FIR against the MMRDA contractor at Chembur police station,” said Prakash Kadam, deputy hydraulic engineer, BMC. He also said repair work will be complete tonight and supply will be restored on Sunday.

Dilip Kawathkar, joint project PR, MMRDA, said: “We had identified underground utilities in the area this week, but this pipeline was not identified, which is why this incident happened. We have already spoken to the BMC and the pipeline repair work has been started. Water supply was immediately stopped after the incident, so not much water was wasted. The pipeline will be restored soon.”

On Monday, an MMRDA contractor damaged a 24-inch pipeline near Chembur police station on Gidwani Marg.

In January, about 5 million litres of water were wasted after a pipeline was damaged at Nana Chowk by a Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation contractor who was carrying out piling work for the Grant Road skywalk.

In May 2009, pipelines at Lalbaug were damaged twice during construction of a flyover, for which the BMC has sent MMRDA a repair bill of Rs 13 lakh.

The BMC has sent a letter to the MMRDA and asked its staff and contractors to be careful while digging roads to avoid damage to underground utilities, after the Nana Chowk pipe burst.

In the last five years, MMRDA and MSRDC, between them, have broken at least 55 water pipelines.