Mumbai: Hindmata floods again as BMC blames 'early monsoon'

The BMC left redfaced after its monsoon unpreparedness lay exposed on Monday squarely blamed the weather gods for it BMC officials revealed that there was a delay in making dewatering pumps operational and the monsoon ldquowasnrsquot expected to arrive this earlyrdquo Mondayrsquos downpour left Hindmata and other lowlying areas badly waterlogged Shopkeepers at Hindmata who escaped major losses thanks to the bazaar being closed on Mondays are frustrated by what they call a ldquochronic and avoidablerdquo problemClothing shops at Hindmata a day after the lowlying area got flooded on May 26Hindmata has long struggled with flooding during monsoon and even premonsoon rainfall Though the situation was somewhat better in the past two years due to the installation of dewatering pumps There are 11 such mechanical devices in the area which transfer water to underground holding tanks constructed beneath St Xavierrsquos ground in Parel and Pramod Mahajan Udyan in Dadar The water is then let into the nullahs from these two tanks Shopkeepers say they have had to adapt over the years devising ways to elevate stock or seal off parts of their shops whenever heavy rain is forecast But despite their resilience they face hurdles beyond just the waterldquoEvery year we go through the same ordeal Wersquove learned to live with the water but that doesnrsquot make flooding acceptable I have built a foothigh granite elevation and placed all our racks of clothes on it Many others have made similar arrangements so that their products do not get drenched But still the water did enter my shop like every year and we had to come to work yesterday May 26 despite it being a Monday and get the water drained and dry the shoprdquo said Manish Dedhia owner of SJ EnterpriseSunil Mamania owner of the Formen shopSunil Mamania owner of the Formen shop asked why the water accumulated despite the presence of pumps ldquoWe want the BMC to first tell us how these pumps work where the water that they say is pumped out from the roads here goes and how this entire system works Even after installing these pumps water entered our shops Our shop is located at the centre of Hindmata which is the arearsquos lowest spot Water flowing from Bhoiwada and Dadar comes hererdquo said MamaniaA few other shopkeepers were thankful that it had rained on a Monday as the market is generally closed on this day and that the roads were not congested with traffic ldquoWhen the vehicles constantly keep moving it becomes difficult for water to enter drains causing it to ultimately enter our shops Though we did not face huge losses muddy water entered our shops and we had to clean and dry some of the clothes that got wetrdquo said Sarwar Alam owner of Noori CollectionAnother pressing issue according to shopkeepers is their lack of insurance coverage ldquoInsurance companies refuse to give us coverage unless our shops are built at least four feet above ground level And that is not possible hererdquo said MamaniaBMCrsquos responseThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC responsible for flood control and infrastructure maintenance attributed this weekrsquos flooding to a delay in starting the water pumps that help drain Hindmata ldquoThe tender for pump maintenance expired last year and a new contractor was appointed just 15 days ago Normally all pumps are operational by May 15 But this year the new contractor asked for additional time to begin operations We instructed them to start by May 25 but he had mentioned that he would start the pumps by May 26 We thought one day wouldnrsquot make a difference Unfortunately nature had other plans And it rained heavily causing the floodlike situation in the areardquo said Abhijit Bangar additional municipal commissioner projects He further mentioned that 70 per cent of pumps in the area were functional on Tuesday and the rest will be made operational in the next two or three daysatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params