Mumbai: How BMC raced against time to fix Lokhandwala pipe leak

The BMC plans to start the road repair work in a few days. Pic/Anurag Ahire

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) managed to repair the damaged pipeline at Oshiwara within eight hours after which the water supply to the area was restored. A valve that was installed for detection and repair of leakages along the underground pipe burst on Wednesday, causing flooding and damage in the area.

Civic authorities said, however, that it would take a few more days to complete road repair work after receiving total clearance from the Hydraulic Department.
The water pipeline of 1,200-mm diameter in front of Twinkle Apartments on Adarsh Nagar Road burst around 3 pm on Wednesday, causing a massive jet of water that reached seven-storeys high. BMC officials managed to cut water supply within the next 30 minutes and repair work started immediately. "The work was completed within eight hours at around 11 pm on Wednesday.

The damaged portion of the pipe repaired by civic officials on Thursday

Water supply to the Lokhandwala complex area, Millat Nagar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Nagar and MHADA was regular on Thursday," said a BMC official.
Chakradhar Kandalkar, deputy municipal commissioner (special engineering) said a welded iron valve (working manhole) dislodged from the pipeline, causing the incident. "The water supply from the pipe was stopped immediately and the iron valve was reinstalled after pumping water from the aqueduct. A team of 15 people worked continuously for eight hours to rectify the issue," he said.

According to Vishwas Shankarwar, DMC, Zone 4, the repair work has been completed and is currently being tested. "Work to repair the road will be undertaken by the Road Department after receiving clearance from the hydraulic engineers. It will take a few days," he said.

Carpets and mattresses in several houses got soaked, rendering them useless; The false ceiling of a ground floor gym collapsed due to the water force

Flooding damaged cars, furniture

Residents claimed that several items got damaged in many households due to showers from the pipeline. "We have several videos of flats in our buildings getting flooded and everything including mattresses on beds, sofas, and quilts were soaked with water and cannot be used. Residents had a hard time cleaning the floors. More than seven cars were damaged. We will discuss the damage and the steps to be taken in a meeting on Sunday," said Rajan Malhotra, a resident of Silver Sand society which faced the maximum force of water spray, with every flat getting flooded.

Wooden slab collapsed

Another resident from the society said that the gym area on the ground floor was also badly damaged and a part of a wooden slab collapsed. Mona Muni from the neighbouring building said that people are in shock due to the incident and are trying to save whatever they can. No one was hurt due to the incident and while the road is still dug up, traffic movement has started.

Reason behind the burst

Purushottam Malvade, chief of the hydraulic engineering department, informed that an iron valve (working manhole) is kept functional by welding it at some spots on underground pipes so that engineers can detect the exact spot of a leak and carry out repairs. A rupture in the valve caused the incident.

1,200mm
Diameter of damaged pipe