 Postal Colony residents wade through water The much-awaited rains last week submerged several parts of Chembur, despite the BMCs claims that the construction of the mega city drain will protect the suburb from flooding.
The mega city drain is a channel adjoining the Eastern Express Highway. It starts from Postal Colony and ends at Suman Nagar.
Residents claim the water-logging was a result of the storm water drains not being cleaned in several localities prior to the monsoon.
Postal Colony, which is a problem area, was covered with two to three feet water. Veena Shah, a resident, says, Like every year, this monsoon our colony was submerged. The new drain has not made any difference. We had to throw water out of our house using buckets.
Shah, who stays on the ground floor, was forced to send her grandchildren to a hotel for two days because of the flooding in their house. She says, The BMC did not clean the storm water drains in our colony despite our complaints.
Sindhi Society is another area that witnesses flooding every monsoon. Vivekanand High School, which is in the colony, also faced the same problem this year.
Padma Vaswani, executive secretary of Vivekanand Education Society, says, The whole society is a low-lying area. The problem in our area is that there is no outlet for the rain water. So if there is a heavy shower, there is no place for the water to drain away, so the area becomes water-logged.
She adds, We have been complaining to the BMC for a long time, but they have not been able to solve the problem. The area in front of our secondary school floods immediately.
Sai Baba Nagar, a slum locality near Shell Colony, was yet another area that was flooded. Atanu Mukherjee, the local Congress activist and resident of Shell Colony, says, Storm water drains not being cleaned is one of the reasons for flooding.
Over the last 15-20 years, much of Chemburs marshy land has been reclaimed. Unauthorised slums have been built on low-lying areas. These open spaces have been levelled using debris. So there is no place for the water to drain away.
He adds, This year the monsoon has been below average, so its impossible to determine whether the mega city drain will really help prevent flooding in Chembur or not. It has not rained continuously for about four to five days, like last year. So we cannot really say if the drain is serving any purpose.
However, BMC officials maintain that flooding in Chembur will end once work on the mega city drain is complete. Rajan Talkar, assistant engineer, maintenance, M-west ward, says, "There is a substantial reduction in the flooding this year.
Around 40 metres length of the nala is yet to be constructed. Once that is done the total disposal of water will be taken care of." He adds that another reason for the floods was, "some obstruction at Mahul creek. Once that was cleared, the flooding reduced."
To complain about flooding in your area, call 5281977. priya@mid-day.com
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