Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A spell of heavy pre-monsoon rain flooded Mumbai’s low-lying Andheri subway on Wednesday morning, forcing authorities to temporarily shut the key east-west connector and triggering a fresh political war over the city’s monsoon preparedness. The southwest monsoon is expected to hit Mumbai between June 5 and June 11, according to the India Meteorological Department. The rain-bearing system officially made landfall in Kerala today.
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The flooding on the subway occurred even before the official onset of the monsoon, with parts of Mumbai‘s western suburbs receiving intense rainfall within a short period. Andheri recorded nearly 49 mm of rain between 7 am and 8 am, while nearby Versova received as much as 69 mm during the same period, according to reports.
Waterlogging on the subway led to its closure from 7:40 am to 8:24 am, disrupting peak-hour traffic. Civic officials reportedly deployed dewatering pumps and cleared the accumulated water, allowing traffic to resume after about 44 minutes.
POLITICAL ROW OVER SUBWAY FLOODING
The incident quickly snowballed into a political controversy, with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray accusing the BJP-led civic administration of failing to implement long-term flood mitigation measures.
In a social media post, Thackeray said the flooding had revived discussion around rainwater holding tanks, a proposal initiated during the erstwhile Shiv Sena-led BMC administration. He claimed the city had identified chronic waterlogging spots and planned “sponge city” solutions, including holding ponds to store excess rainwater during heavy showers.
“The two spots where we created tanks on priority had been flooding for decades. It is shocking that despite controlling the BMC through the administration for the last four years, the BJP has not implemented important schemes like rainwater holding tanks,” he said.
The BJP hit back, accusing the previous Shiv Sena-led administration of focusing on contracts and estimates rather than permanent solutions.
Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam said the Andheri subway’s flooding problem was structurally different from other flood-prone locations such as Milan Subway and Hindmata. “The quantum of water flowing into the Andheri subway is extremely high. Merely creating holding ponds will not solve the problem,” he said.
He claimed that a previously proposed project involving holding ponds and a drainage diversion system would have cost more than Rs 500 crore while reducing flooding by only around 50 per cent. “We need a complete and sustainable solution to ensure Mumbaikars’ money is not wasted,” he said, accusing the previous regime of prioritising tenders over effective outcomes.
The latest flooding has once again highlighted the persistent challenges of the Andheri subway, one of Mumbai’s most flood-prone locations. Civic officials have repeatedly acknowledged that the low-lying subway remains vulnerable during intense rainfall and a permanent solution is still under consideration.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
