Navi Mumbai: Water from a storm water drainage line in Sector 17, Vashi overflowed onto Palm Beach Road during high tide on Tuesday, causing traffic disruption and raising concerns over civic preparedness.
According to local activists, the incident was caused due to the lack of cleaning and maintenance of the nearby holding pond, which is meant to regulate excess water during high tide and heavy rains.
“The holding pond hasn't been desilted properly for months. As a result, when high tide pushes water back through the drainage network, there is no buffer space, and the water floods onto main roads,” said one resident of Vashi.
High tide causes storm water drainage overflow, disrupting traffic on Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai | File Photo
The incident occurred around midday and led to waterlogging along a stretch of the busy Palm Beach Road, affecting vehicular movement and sparking complaints from commuters.
Civic officials from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) said that being mangrove area, they are unable to clean it without the court permission and they would be moving the court. As per the IIT report from last year, the holding ponds of Navi Mumbai has lost its capacity of holding the storm water by 75% and it needs to be cleaned immediately.
“We are going to move the court with the report seeking permission to clean the mangrove area of the holding pond,” city engineer Shirish Aradwad said, adding, “The main reason for the overflow is the unusual hightide that was reported on Monday as well as Tuesday. The high was close to 5 feet height on both days.”
High tide causes storm water drainage overflow, disrupting traffic on Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai | File Photo
“The urban planning of the so-called city of the 21st century was exposed on Tuesday afternoon as the sewer line off Palm Beach Road overflowed and flooded the main thoroughfare. This is the result of improper desilting of the drains,” NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said.
"Deposits of silt in the holding ponds has also limited the capacity of these waterbodies where mangroves have grown in large numbers. This happened mainly due to the negligence of the civic body in desilting the ponds,” Kumar said. The result is the road faced a flood like situation causing traffic jams, he pointed out.
Ex corporator Divya Gaikwad from Vashi has written a letter to NMMC Commissioner asking for his urgent attention to the issue. “If not rectified now, the situation would get bad once monsoon starts,” she said.
