Mumbai civic body readies 547 pumps, identifies 496 flood-prone spots ahead of monsoon

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC will install 547 portable dewatering pumps as part of its measures to tackle waterlogging in parts of the city during the monsoon an official said on Tuesday PTI reportedReview meeting held with key agenciesMunicipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide chaired a joint meeting of the BMC and other agencies including the India Meteorological Department to review monsoon preparedness496 floodprone spots identified across MumbaiSpeaking to PTI after the meeting Bhide said Mumbai has 496 floodprone spots of which 403 have already been addressed Of the remaining 93 only 13 can be resolved before the monsoonPumps to be deployed across city zonesThe BMC will install 547 portable dewatering pumps of which 146 will be in the island city 178 in the eastern suburbs and 123 in the western suburbs Additionally six pumping stations and 10 mini pumping stations will be operational the civic chief saidBhide said the pumps will be kept ready from May 5 considering last yearrsquos early onset of the monsoon and the possibility of premonsoon showersIoTenabled monitoring system to be usedAll portable pumps will be fitted with IoTbased devices so they can be controlled through smartphones and monitored in real time from the control room she said the news agency reportedRoad concretisation and pending worksOf Mumbairsquos 2050kilometre road network 1745 kilometres have been concretised while work on the remaining 305 kilometres is underway with progress ranging between 45 per cent and 90 per cent Bhide said PTI reportedRoad works that are less than 70 per cent complete are unlikely to be finished before the monsoon Therefore the civic body has decided to close such works and cover the stretches with masticPothole repair costs declineShe further pointed out that pothole repair costs have reduced substantially in recent years due to concretisation The civic body has allocated Rs 45 crore for pothole repairs this year compared with Rs 97 crore in 2025Desilting and river cleaning progressMajor nullah desilting works are 39 per cent complete while cleaning of the Mithi River is expected to be finished before the monsoon she said the PTI reportedDilapidated buildings and tree trimmingBhide said Mumbai has around 174 dilapidated buildings classified under the C1 category of which 72 have been vacated while action in 71 cases has been stalled due to court staysShe added that around 59720 trees are scheduled for trimming this year Of these 26672 have already been trimmed while the remaining work is expected to be completed by the end of MayNotices have been issued for around 7000 trees on private or government premisesCoordination with railways NDRF deploymentThe municipal commissioner said the BMC will conduct joint inspections with railway authorities to address flooding on railway tracksBhide added that three teams of the National Disaster Response Force will remain deployed in Mumbai during the monsoonWith PTI inputs