Will Mumbai civic body's Rs 10,000-cr proposal end city's flooding woes?

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed a Rs 10,000-crore flood-mitigation plan for Mumbai and submitted it to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for financial assistance. Mumbai is among three Indian mega-cities selected for NDMA's Urban Flood Risk Management Programme (UFRMP) - the others being New Delhi and Ahmedabad - and its officials were asked to prepare a plan with comprehensive flood preparedness measures and capacity strengthening.

The move comes amid warnings of the urgent need to manage flood risk in low-lying areas in light of increasing instances of high-intensity and unpredictable rainfall patterns in the city.

3404 km
Total length of drains in Mumbai

Flooding facts

1 On average, 16 days per year record rainfall greater than 100 mm

2 In the past 10 years, high-intensity rainfall (in four hours) has occurred 28 times

3 Over the past six years, average high-intensity rainfall has increased from ~131 mm to ~182 mm.

4 Mumbai experiences an average of six heavy, five very heavy and four extremely heavy rain events per year. (2025)

5 Over 35% of Mumbai's population lives within the influence of a 250-m radius buffer of flooding hotspots (2025)

UFRMP timeline

March 2025 A meeting was held with NDMA, chaired by the home secretary. Cities were asked to submit a comprehensive proposal for flood mitigation after consulting a third-party expert agency

June 2025 BMC submitted the proposal outlining flood mitigation measures for Mumbai, after IIT vetted the proposal

February 2026 BMC's budget 2026 formally announced the

UFRMP Way forward: Principal approval from the Central government is expected for the project

Flood-prone areas of city

. P/N (Malad)
. K E and West (Andheri East and West)
. H E (Bandra East)
. L (Kurla)
. N (Ghatkopar)
. F North (Matunga and Sion)

(According to BMC's flood preparedness guidelines 2025, with up to 800 incidents of flooding between 2016 and 2023)

Steps proposed by BMC under anti-flood programme

Non-structural measures
. Nature-based solutions
→ Bio-retention systems
→ Bio-swales
→ Urban sponge parks
→ Green corridors
→ Permeable pavements
→ Mangrove restoration
→ Wetland restoration
. Technical and IT-based interventions
. Public awareness and engagement
. Integrated early warning and monitoring system for the city

Structural measures
. Construction of retention basins and detention basins in open areas
. Construction of stormwater pumping stations at Mahul and Mogra
. Augmentation of stormwater drainage network to double carrying capacity
. Construction of detention-cum-infiltration tanks such as those at Hindamata, Dadar, and Gandhi Market, Sion
. Rejuvenation of Mumbai's rivers

OFFICIALSPEAK

Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner
‘Since NDMA's core principle is ensuring robust non-structural measures along with structural measures, we have also focused on nature-based solutions for flood mitigation. Many such solutions can be implemented for urban areas, such as increasing the amount of land where earth is exposed, for water retention, including public open spaces, making open spaces mandatory in private developments, road medians, and permeable footpaths. We await approval'

Status of waterlogging spots

At least 29 spots will see waterlogging in the coming monsoon season.

According to the BMC budget 2026-27…

…Of the 498 flooding spots identified in the city, 391 have been tackled so far

…52 will be tackled by this rainy season

…26 spots require coordination with other government and private agencies over time