Environmentalists accuse civic body of putting people's lives at risk by going for road along Mutha river below the flood line

After 50 years of the Panshet dam flood in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is accused of inviting the same kind of trouble by making a riverside road at a level that lies below the flood line. On July 12, 1961, the Panshet dam burst and the floodwater poured into the city from the Mutha river, devastating a large swathe of nearby areas and rendering thousands homeless.


Dangerous road? The riverside road with the flood line showing under
the Balgandharva bridge. Pic/Vivek Sabnis

The flood line was subsequently drawn, which activists say is being violated by the PMC. After the 1961 flood, the PMC demarcated the flood line levels at all the bridges and causeways on the Mutha."The carrying capacity of the Mutha is 1,50,000 cusecs, but a flood-like situation comes when the water level crosses 60,000 cusecs in monsoon," said Sarang Yadvadkar, an environmentalist.