BMC declares 126 areas flood-prone

A dirty nullah right opposite M (east) ward office in Govandi; A hoarding put up outside a nullah at Subhash Nagar, Govandi, claiming completion of desilting work.

In what may appear to be an effort to wash its hands of responsibility yet again, the BMC has declared a list of 126 spots in Mumbai that will be prone to flooding due to garbage in the nullahs. This comes in even though the civic body claims that pre-monsoon nullah desilting is 100 per cent complete.

The civic body has attributed garbage accumulation in these 126 nullahs to the dense slums nearby, and the carelessness of local residents, who pollute the water bodies with household waste and plastic.

To curb this practice, the BMC has put up posters in several places to create awareness about the gravity of the issue — that solid waste pollution can choke up the water body and subsequently lead to floods in the area. However, most nullahs remain dirty, and the BMC has not been able to come up with a permanent solution to the problem.

Of the 126 nullahs, 21 are located in the city, 55 in the eastern suburbs, and 50 in the western suburbs. The maximum number of ‘polluted nullahs’ — 15, lie in the M (East) ward in Govandi and Deonar, a locality with a high density of slums. This is followed by 14 nullahs in K (east) ward corresponding to Andheri (east).

F (north) ward, that houses Dharavi also has 11 nullahs listed. Other areas include parts of Kurla, Chembur, Andheri, Bandra, and other slum pockets in the city.

Commenting on the matter, a civic official said, “All nullahs running adjacent to slums are in very poor condition, even though we have cleaned them several times this year; not just desilted them, but repeatedly pulled out garbage after the mandatory pre-monsoon desilting. The only solution to this problem is to create awareness among slum residents and convince them to not throw garbage into the nullahs.”