Mumbai: BMC says Milan subway ready for heavy rain

Milan subway, one of the chronic flooding spots in the city, is ready to face heavy rain as the BMC has installed two pumps to drain water out of a holding tank in the vicinity, said civic officials. The underpass at Santacruz had become impassable on multiple occasions following heavy downpours in the city in the first two weeks of last month. Officials said water from the subway will flow into the holding tank by gravitational force.

Work being done on the holding tank near the Milan subway, Santacruz, in May

The subway, which connects east and west of the railway tracks between Vile Parle and Santacruz, sits below sea level and gets flooded every year when heavy rain coincides with high tide. With the weather bureau predicting the arrival of the next spell of rain in the city in a few days, BMC officials said they are confident the subway will be able to shed its "flooding spot" tag this time.

A flooded Milan subway

Pumps and holding tanks had ensured that Hindmata and King's Circle were not inundated last month. While the corporation is giving finishing touches to a similar tank near the Milan subway, it was not ready with a pumping system last month. During a visit to Hindmata in the third week of July, P Velarasu, additional municipal commissioner, had assured that the work on the pumps at the Milan subway would be done n a few days.

It connects east and west of the tracks between Vile Parle and Santacruz

"The installation of water pumps is completed and we can now hold the water in the tank. There will be two pumps, each capable of pumping out 3,000 cubic metres of water per hour, at the site," said Bhagwant Late, deputy chief engineer of the storm water drain department. While the holding tank can be used, the remaining work on it - slab and restoration of ground - will be taken up after the monsoon, he said. The Rs 33-crore tank has a volume of 20,000 cubic metres and can hold up to 2 crore litres of water.