"The pipeline repair work is expected to be completed by Friday night. However, the said areas will receive low pressure water supply even after that," said Alka Sasane, H/East ward officer.
In a tragic incident, an eight-month-old boy and his 9-year-old sister lost their lives after a stretch of the Tansa water pipeline burst at Behrampada, Bandra (East), and the gushing water drowned them.
Another child, who was drowning in the water that flowed out of the pipeline, was rescued in time by firemen.
As a result of the burst, water supply through the pipeline was shut for repairs through the day, affecting supply in areas like Bandra, Khar and Santacruz.
"The pipeline repair work is expected to be completed by Friday night. However, the said areas will receive low pressure water supply even after that," said Alka Sasane, H/East ward officer.
Tansa is one of Mumbai's main water pipelines, starting from Bhandup and ending at Juhu, stretching across areas like Ghatkopar, Dadar, Matunga and Bandra. However, the areas along the pipeline have been extensively encroached by slums. In 2009, while hearing a PIL about illegal encroachments along Tansa pipeline, the Bombay High Court directed the BMC to remove the slums and demarcate a 10-metre buffer zone along the pipeline.
However, eight years later, the BMC is still carrying out its second phase of demolitions along the pipeline.
At Behrampada, Bandra (East) where the incident took place, there are around 2,000 shanties abutting the pipeline. The deceased siblings, 8-month-old Vighnesh Doiphode and Priyanka Doiphode, 9, lived in one of the shanties along the pipeline. At around 10.45 am, their mother Poonam had gone to the toilet, leaving them in the shanty with their father and grandmother. It was then that the pipeline burst and caused a large water container kept near their door to come crashing down on the siblings. They were swept away by the water that gushed out of the pipe.
A disaster management unit of the BMC found their bodies after 30 minutes, by when both siblings drowned. Vignesh was taken to Bhabha Hospital and Priyanka to VN Desai Hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival.
Around 100 slum dwellers lost their belongings in the flood. "Around 2,000 shanties are settled in Behrampada presently. In the last survey conducted 5 to 6 years back, of the 1,800 shanties, 600 were eligible for rehabilitation. We conducted a survey recently too, and we are scrutinising the documents to identify the eligible project affected persons," said Sasane.
BMC attributes the slow pace of removal of encroachments from along the pipeline to the reluctance of slum dwellers to agree to shift to alternate housing, and involvement of other agencies delaying the demolition.
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