Under the Development Plan of Mumbai 2034, a buffer zone was designated on either side of all four rivers of Mumbai, Mithi, Oshiwara, Dahisar and Poisar, serving as a detention basin to retain excess rainwater.

City-based activist Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of the NGO Watchdog Foundation, has raised concerns over a growing number of illegal constructions near rivers in recent years, warning that these structures could block water flow during heavy monsoon showers, creating a dangerous situation. He pointed out one such building in Marol, located right next to the Mithi River near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s Terminal 2. The structure has been under construction for over five years and is now nearly complete.

Activists claim that such constructions, which violate the buffer zone requirement, pose significant environmental and flood-related risks. After the floods of July 2005, the Dr Madhav Chitale Committee recommended strict flood mitigation measures, one of which was to maintain the 10-metre buffer area, which would be a no-development zone (NDZ).