No BMC standing committee nod for maintenance of cycling tracks, parks adjoining main water pipeline in Mumbai

Mumbai: The BMC standing committee on Wednesday did not approve a contract worth Rs 7 crore for the maintenance of cycling tracks, gardens, footpaths and service roads, among other amenities, adjoining the main pipeline that supplies drinking water in the city, following opposition from committee members. The committee sought further information and clarification from the administration. According to the civic administration, cycling tracks and gardens have been created on a stretch of more than 18 km of the pipeline. Members pointed out that at several locations the cycling tracks and gardens are non-existent or completely encroached upon.Shiv Sena (UBT) standing committee member Deepmala Bhade, who opposed the awarding of the contract, had carried out a visit to a stretch of the pipeline near the Mulund-Goregaon Link Road at Bhandup West, along with civic officials, recently. Bhade said the garden does not exist and the whole stretch has been encroached upon. Congress member Ashraf Azmi said the proposal is for maintenance of tracks and the garden, but there is no garden, and the tracks are broken.MNS member Yashwant Killedar said there is complete encroachment on cycling tracks and gardens, citing the example of Sion and Senapati Bapat Road, Dadar, and said nobody uses the cycling track. Congress's Tulip Miranda said people have been displaced while removing encroachments, and the civic body must ensure there are no other encroachments along the pipeline. Civic officials said following a Bombay high court order directing the BMC to remove encroachments extending up to 10 metres on both sides of the main water pipeline, they were cleared and construction of cycling tracks, gardens, footpaths, service roads, etc was carried out on a 18.6 km stretch of the pipeline in three phases. These included Phase 1 (Mulund to Sahar – 9.5 km), Phase 2A (Ghatkopar to Sion – 5 km), Phase 2B (Powai to Sakinaka – 3 km) and a pilot project (Mulund V R Road to MCC Chowki – 1.1 km).Civic officials said the contract for maintenance had ended in Dec 2024 and admitted that some stretches might be in bad shape due to lack of monitoring. "We had sought EOIs from firms, which were interested in maintaining them under CSR funds. But there was no response," said an official.
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