High court dismisses citizens' petition against underground water tunnel going through playground; civic officials say it will improve water supply in Parel, Sion, Wadala, Matunga
BMC carries out work on the water tunnel at Sadakant Dhavan Udyan in Naigaon. Pic/Ashish Raje
With the high court dismissing a petition filed by citizens challenging the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) proposal to lay a 9.7-kilometre-long underground water tunnel worth Rs 920 crore to improve water supply in areas like Parel, Sion, Wadala and Matunga, the civic body has finally started work on the project. Civic officials said that the HC's ruling had come as a relief for them.
As part of the project, an underground tunnel will be laid from Amar Mahal junction, Ghatkopar to Pratiksha Nagar, Sion to Parel for improving water supply in F north ward areas (Wadala, Matunga, Dadar East), F south ward areas (Lalbaug, Parel and Chinchpokli) and parts of L ward (areas in Kurla) and E ward (areas in Byculla).
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The civic body needed a 4,200 square metre space to create shafts so that the tunnel could pass through it. They had selected a playground, Sadakant Dhavan Udyan at Naigaon near Bhoiwada police station for the work.
Following this, the BMC faced severe opposition from the locals as they feared that they would not be able to use the playground for six years. According to the initial plan, the BMC had decided to occupy 4,200 square metres of the playground, which measures a total of 6,500 square metres, in March this year, but after the intervention of public representatives they had to cut down on the use of space by almost half in September.
"After locals from Naigaon and Parel areas opposed the move, we worked out a strategy and decided that only 1,777 square metres of the playground will be used for two-and-half-years. Then it will be further cut down to 1,000 square metres for the remaining four years instead of the earlier proposed 4,200 square metres. We even had to change the way of carrying out the work to ensure minimum space of the ground is used," said a civic official.
He further said, "Despite taking all measures, the BMC had to face a PIL which alleged that the civic body was hand-in-gloves with the land mafia and was developing the playground along with them. However, when the HC asked the litigants to prove the allegation, they could not produce any documents and hence, the petition was dismissed."
9.7
Length in kilometres of the water tunnel
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