Uddhav's party failed to improve stormwater drain system in Mumbai: BJP

Maharashtra minister and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar on Wednesday accused the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBT party of failing to improve the stormwater drainage system in Mumbai despite controlling the civic body for over two decades and spending Rs 1 lakh crore for the purpose reported the PTIShelar called this a betrayal of Mumbaikars by Uddhav Thackeray and his MLA son Aaditya Thackeray and demanded a white paper on the utilisation of fundsThe undivided Shiv Sena ruled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC the richest civic body in the country for more than two decadesAshish Shelars comments came in the wake of a political slugfest over waterlogging witnessed in Mumbai following heavy rains with the opposition accusing the government of failing to prepare the city despite heavy spending according to the PTIThe political sparring intensified with a sharp jab from Aaditya Thackeray who said that the Mumbai Metro line was aptly named Aqua since it is under water Operations on Mumbais new Metro Line 3 Aqua were suspended on Monday due to heavy rains inundating an underground stationThe sudden downpour also affected road and rail traffic in the metropolis on MondayAshish Shelar who is the Guardian Minister for Mumbai Suburban district led a BJP delegation and met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC Commissioner and its stateappointed administrator Bhushan Gagrani and submitted a memorandum seeking a white paper on the expenditure over stormwater drain projects carried out in the last two decadesHe sought to know why despite massive spending the city continues to suffer from floods during monsoonApproximately Rs 1 lakh crore were spent by the BMC over the past 20 years on flood management projects such as cleaning of nullahs and Mithi river stormwater drains and the Brihanmumbai storm water disposal Brimstowad but the situation in the city failed to improve he said during the meetingWhere have these Rs 1 lakh crore gone Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray must explain this to Mumbaikars Only then should they question us about the last three years Ashish Shelar said as per the PTIAround 40 per cent of BMCs Rs 80 lakh crore budget over the last 20 years was allocated for development and about 10 per cent of that amount approximately Rs 1 lakh crore went to stormwater drains Mithi river desilting and BrimstowardBut there has been no substantial improvement despite this expenditure he saidAshish Shelar raised concerns about the delay in completion of the Brimstowad projectHow much funds were allocated for the purpose till 2017 and why has the system meant to function for a rainfall of 25 mm to 50 mm still not been implemented fully he asked reported the PTIOn the Mithi river desilting Shelar asked How much silt was removed where was it dumped and how much money was spent on itAshish Shelar referred to ongoing investigation by the Mumbai Polices Economic Offences Wing EOW in the alleged Rs 65 crore Mithi river desilting scam citing irregularities such as contracts in the names of deceased individuals and reports of nonexistent dumping grounds the news agency reportedThe BJP leader sought to know the height of how many outfalls located below the hightide line has been raised in the past 20 yearsShelar said that there are 82 landslideprone sites in the suburbs of which 47 have been marked as hazardousWhile MHADA installs protective nets up to a height of nine feet the area above that falls under the purview of the Public Works Department which lacks funding he saidThe BMC should allocate funds to carry out this work immediatelyIf tasks like trimming of tree branches and laying of safety nets to prevent landslides are not carried out urgently the commissioner will be held accountable for any accidents during the monsoon the BJP leader warnedRaising concern over the pumps that failed to clear accumulated water after heavy rains in Mumbai he accused the Thackerays of altering tender conditions to benefit a favoured contractorTalking about the Coastal Road project Ashish Shelar claimed that substandard material was used in the reclamation process and demanded that the truth be presented to the publicAddressing the delegation BMC commissioner Gagrani said the early arrival of monsoon disrupted BMCs planningHe admitted that only 55 per cent work of desilting the Mithi river has been completed and promised to complete the remaining work within eight daysPumps would be installed at waterlogged points within 24 hours and additional pumps would be deployed if required he saidAshish Shelar said BJP functionaries and former corporators would monitor the progress of these taskswith PTI inputs