Mumbai civic body rolls out Rs 71cr Powai Lake clean-up tender work

Mumbai: Mumbai: Following repeated demands from concerned citizens and environmentalists, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allotted the civil work on diverting the sewer water flow from Powai Lake and floated a tender for setting up a treatment plant near the site at a cost of over Rs 71 crore.Members of the BMC-appointed Advanced Locality Management Committee and NatConnect Foundation launched a joint campaign focusing attention on the deterioration of Powai Lake due to the direct inflow of untreated waste of 18 million litres a day."The BMC officials have now met the Powai residents and informed us that the tender process of diverting the sewer line has been launched. This is good news for the lake,"said Pamela Cheema of the Save Powai Lake group. Of late, crocodiles were spotted on the banks of the lake, prompting the environment lovers to raise concern over their safety, Cheema said.The lake, with abundant biodiversity has been covered with hyacinth, which the BMC failed to check despite a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, following which the public awareness campaign was launched addressing the chief minister and BMC commissioner."We are happy that commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has directed his team led by additional commissioner Abhijit Bangar, and the process of tender work to divert the sewer away from the lake has started," said NatConnect director B N Kumar.The work on laying sewer pipelines was allotted to Swastik Constructions following an e-tender, papers given to ALM members at a meeting at S Ward on Friday. Stating that better late than never, ALM Chairperson Pamela Cheema remarked that the people of Powai are anxiously awaiting the speedy execution of the lake clean-up.The work is slated to start on July 21 with an 18-month deadline.In a related development, the civic body floated an e-tender for Rs 68.88 crore STP at Powai. The bids were to be opened on June 30, and details are awaited, said Milan Bhatt, an ALM member.BMC, meanwhile, commissioned harvester machines to clear the hyacinth following public pressure. But this measure proved to be grossly inadequate as the vegetation grew rapidly due to the continuous draining of sewer, NatConnect said.The end-to-end hyacinth sheet over the lake prevents the sun rays from penetrating the lake, thus badly impacting aquatic life.Meanwhile, NatConnect has taken up the dire state of Powai Lake with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), which in turn asked the state environment director to take necessary action.Mumbai: Mumbai: Following repeated demands from concerned citizens and environmentalists, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allotted the civil work on diverting the sewer water flow from Powai Lake and floated a tender for setting up a treatment plant near the site at a cost of over Rs 71 crore.Members of the BMC-appointed Advanced Locality Management Committee and NatConnect Foundation launched a joint campaign focusing attention on the deterioration of Powai Lake due to the direct inflow of untreated waste of 18 million litres a day."The BMC officials have now met the Powai residents and informed us that the tender process of diverting the sewer line has been launched. This is good news for the lake,"said Pamela Cheema of the Save Powai Lake group. Of late, crocodiles were spotted on the banks of the lake, prompting the environment lovers to raise concern over their safety, Cheema said.The lake, with abundant biodiversity has been covered with hyacinth, which the BMC failed to check despite a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, following which the public awareness campaign was launched addressing the chief minister and BMC commissioner."We are happy that commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has directed his team led by additional commissioner Abhijit Bangar, and the process of tender work to divert the sewer away from the lake has started," said NatConnect director B N Kumar.The work on laying sewer pipelines was allotted to Swastik Constructions following an e-tender, papers given to ALM members at a meeting at S Ward on Friday. Stating that better late than never, ALM Chairperson Pamela Cheema remarked that the people of Powai are anxiously awaiting the speedy execution of the lake clean-up.The work is slated to start on July 21 with an 18-month deadline.In a related development, the civic body floated an e-tender for Rs 68.88 crore STP at Powai. The bids were to be opened on June 30, and details are awaited, said Milan Bhatt, an ALM member.BMC, meanwhile, commissioned harvester machines to clear the hyacinth following public pressure. But this measure proved to be grossly inadequate as the vegetation grew rapidly due to the continuous draining of sewer, NatConnect said.The end-to-end hyacinth sheet over the lake prevents the sun rays from penetrating the lake, thus badly impacting aquatic life.Meanwhile, NatConnect has taken up the dire state of Powai Lake with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), which in turn asked the state environment director to take necessary action.