Places like Dr E Moses Road and BKC, which traditionally don't see water-logging, were flooded as Metro contractors had damaged the stormwater drains during construction work at stations
Traffic on WEH in Bandra and residents in Santacruz battle the torrential rain on Tuesday. Pics/Nimesh Dave, Satej Shinde
Ongoing construction work for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro-III line led to unprecedented flooding in the southern parts of the island city and parts of western suburbs.
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mid-day had reported on June 13 about how civic body had written a letter warning that areas were Metro stations were being constructed will get flooded as Metro rail work had chocked the drains. Metro authorities did not take any efforts to address this concern.
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited is currently working on a 33.2-km stretch for the line. During the haphazard work, which started from Colaba, MMRCL contractors had either choked or damaged the road side drains, which were meant to carry rainwater to major nullahs.
Among places that do not usually flood, but were water-logged on Tuesday, were a one-km stretch at Dr E Moses Road in Worli, and parts of Bandra-Kurla Complex.
Locals said it is perhaps the first time that Dr E Moses Road has seen water logging up to knee level. Local resident Pravin Dalvi said, "During July 26, 2005, there was not much waterlogging here. This is first time I have seen huge flooding on the streets. It all happened because Metro authorities neglected and chocked the drains."
On Tuesday afternoon, mid-day spotted several MMRCL workers struggling to clear the water. Since drains were closed, they finally opened manholes of sewerage line to let the water run into the sewer line.
According to BMC officials, the Metro 3 construction work has not only damaged existing drainage lines built by the civic body, but the MMRC has not made alternate arrangements to drain out the rain water that was bound to collect at the dug-up locations.
Work is on in full swing at nearly all the 27 locations where underground stations will come up. At several spots — like Churchgate, Fort, Worli, Prabhadevi and Bandra — roads and footpaths have been barricaded and dug up.
The civic body had asked for reassurance that if any flooding occurs at these locations, the MMRC will be to blame, not the BMC. Meanwhile, work on Metro 2A has led to another problem in western suburbs, where footpaths and roads were damaged.
Rescue ops on
Those stuck in trains at Chinchpokli, Byculla, Dadar, Matunga, Sion and Kurla were brought to safety by fire brigade officials. Flood response teams have been kept on standby.
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