Mumbaikars advised to clean polluted Mithi

Mumbai: Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh has told Mumbai residents the Mithi River could flood the city again, just as it did during the July 2005 deluge, unless they decide to revive it.

Singh, who is responsible for cleaning up rivers in Rajasthan, was in Mumbai on Sunday to help and advise Mumbai residents about bringing the city's black drain of a river back to life.

The Mithi is now polluted with effluent from residences, industries and illegal settlements along its banks.

During the Mithi River Yatra - a walk to assess the Mumbai water body by Singh and NGOs, the award winner said the river was dead today but it was "up to the people whether they wanted it to remain a river or become a nullah [runnel]."

The water conservationist from Rajasthan, who has been instrumental in helping villagers take charge of water management in their areas, is hopeful the Mithi can be become a clean river again if traditional water bodies in the catchment areas of the river were revived.

He said a serious study of the river would have to be initiated in order to restore the water bodies along its course. The 14km river originates near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Powai and meets the Arabian Sea at Mahim Creek.

Singh was told by residents of Koliwari village in Kalina how a seven-acre pond was filled on the orders of the government in the 1970s and how a local politician tried to build a club in this area, but the plan was stopped.

The founder of Tarun Bharat Sangh, an NGO which consults on forests and water resource management, remarked how "mindless development has created a barrier between the river ecosystem and the city," adding that the prime concern should be the eco-system.