The Times of India               11.05.2013

Municipal commissioner clears muddle over Mithi river

MUMBAI: The dispute between the civic administration and its political wing over the desilting of the Mithi river has ended. Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said the BMC will carry out the task despite the river falling under the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Kunte, as chairman of the Greater Mumbai Disaster Management Authority (GMDMA), used a central law, the Disaster Management Act, to ensure that work begins. The proposal need not come up before the civic standing committee for approval. "If the GMDMA fears that a work-if not carried out-may prove disastrous for the city, it can make use of the Disaster Management Act to get it done. If the impasse had not ended, it could have led to the Mithi not being desilted properly and therefore cause waterlogging," said a civic official.

Standing committee members have been playing politics on the issue and have kept the proposal pending for over a month now. The committee wanted the MMRDA to pay first before the desilting work begins. The cost of desilting the 7.6 km of the river that is in the MMRDA jurisdiction was pegged at Rs 23 crore.

The MMRDA has written to the BMC, agreeing to pay for the desilting after the work was done, said standing panel chairman Rahul Shewale.