Mumbai: The Mithi River or Sweet River has been anything but sweet as efforts to de-silt it have been delayed since the July 2005 floods that claimed nearly a thousand people.
As heavy rains once again disrupted life in the city, the thought of a repeat of July 26, 2005, gives every Mumbai resident sleepless nights.
That day’s unprecedented downpour caused the Mithi River, a heavily polluted water body that over the years turned into an open drain, to overflow.
Sewage, garbage and industrial effluents have been freely dumped into the river even as authorities continue to struggle to control this menace.
“The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) have till date spent Rs10.57 billion (Dh646 million) on Mithi River Cleaning and Development,” says Anil Galgali, an activist who obtained ample information through a Right to Information inquiry from both the agencies.
He has found that the deadline for the project completion has been extended three times.
“The initial deadline was December 2010 and the new deadline for the Mithi River project to be completed is April 2017,” he said.
Since the Central Government has not sanctioned a single ‘paise’ until now, Galgali, chairman of the NGO, Athak Seva Sangh, will now appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear the Rs16.57 billion needed to complete the project.
For the last nine years, Mithi River development work has been moving in slow motion, he says. From Vihar Lake to CST Bridge Kurla, 11.8km of the river comes under the jurisdiction of MCGM and the 6km from Mahim Causeway to CST Bridge Kurla, along with the 2-km Vakola Nala jurisdiction, falls under MMRDA.
“The MCGM Executive Engineer P C Jaswani has replied to my query that a 1,960-metre length service road has been completed and that 10,467-metre of work remains. Other widening and deepening work has been completed. The MCGM has spent Rs289.7 million for the first phase and Rs5.7 billion on the second phase. In the MCGM jurisdiction, the total work cost including bridge work is approximately Rs12.39 billion. As per schedule, this work was to be completed by December 2012 but it was then extended to December 2015 but now will be completed only by April 2017,” he added.
On the other hand, the MMRDA executive engineer who is in charge of the Mithi River project, Mahadev Narkar, claims that they spent Rs344 million in the first phase and Rs4.2 billion in the second phase out of a total Rs4.68 billion.
“This project should have been completed by December 2010. It was then extended to December 2012, later to December 2013 and now the deadline of MMRDA jurisdiction is December 2014. A demand of Rs16.57 billion has been submitted to the Central Government but nothing has been sanctioned,” Narkar said.
“Though both the MMRDA and the MCGM claim that they desilted over one million cubic metre, removing the filth and debris, the Mithi River has yet to become pollution free,” says Galgali. According to him, Mumbai residents are unhappy with the shoddy work being carried out.
