Mumbai: Residents fear coastal road work will flood Warden Road this monsoon too

Mumbai: The last two monsoons saw several parts of south Mumbai, including Churchgate, Mantralaya, Marine Drive, Fort, Pedder Road and Bhulabhai Desai Road, get flooded on high-intensity rain days.
Residents of Bhulabhai Desai Road, also known as Warden Road, blame the land-filled Mumbai Coastal Road work for the waterlogging in the area, BMC has given an assurance that it has recently inspected all stormwater drains along the project and they are “adequately clean”.
Activists concur with experts’ warning of big-ticket infrastructure projects, including the coastal road, putting Mumbai’s low-lying topography at further risk. In fact, even during the July 26, 2005 deluge, the island city had been largely unaffected.
Activist and former BMC’s tree committee member Nilesh Baxi said they fear that the chances of flooding could increase this monsoon as several large trees, including 140 in Tata Gardens at Breach Candy, were sacrificed for the coastal road. “These trees helped absorb the rainwater, but now there are just large concrete patches left,” Baxi said. A large portion of the 1.06 acre Tata Gardens is expected to make way for the first interchange of the coastal road which will exit towards this garden carrying traffic headed to Malabar Hill, Peddar Road, and Mahalaxmi.
Namrita Mehta, who has been active in voicing her concerns over the loss of green cover owing to the cutting of trees in Tata Gardens, said though the area has witnessed waterlogging in the past, the last two monsoons saw rainwater accumulate quickly. “Already the dust pollution caused by the coastal road work is forcing us to use air purifiers at home,” she said.
Atul Kumar, vice-president of Nariman Point-Churchgate Citizens’ Welfare Trust, said Mumbai’s urban planning does not seem to be taking climate change into account. “The quantum of rainfall in shorter spells is rising and BMC needs to plan its infrastructure works taking this into account. What we see instead is road levels rising with concrete works being carried out everywhere,” said Kumar.
Tardeo resident Niranjan Shetty, also a former tree committee member, called the flooding a “rebound effect” owing to reclamation. “The BMC can consider constructing underground water silos like it has done at Hindmata and Gandhi Market to store the excess rainwater and use it when needed,” Shetty suggested.
Officials from BMC stor-mwater drains department and Mumbai Coastal Road recently inspected all water outlets in the area and found them to be adequately clean. “Hopefully any accumulated rainwater should drain out fast,” said an official.
The coastal road work from Marine Drive to Worli-end of the Bandra-Worli sea link is expected to be completed by November 2023.
(This is the first of a four-part series)