Urban News

The pond would be cleaned, defunct fountains revived and dumping of garbage into the water body by shops in the vicinity stopped, by July-end.

Earlier, after a scientific study of the pond by Furgo Geonex (India) Pvt Ltd, an agency specialising in marine surveys, geo-technical investigation and geoscience services, a four-point action plan was put forward to BMC.

The plan included plugging of sewers draining into the lake, strict prohibition of garbage dumping, installation of aerators at the base of the pond and reviving its old fountains.

Architect P K Das from the Mumbai Waterfronts Centre, who, along with local corporator Asif Zakaria and other citizens has been trying to get the civic body to act on the revival plan said instead of fancy and expensive beautification plans of lighting etc, the focus should be on reviving the pond by improving its water quality. “The quality of water is very bad because of garbage dumping.

Foremost, this water has to be purified through natural oxygenation. After the silt is removed and the pond cleaned, aerators and fountains will help raise oxygen levels,” said Das.

The stench from the pond has been a menace to residents in the neighbourhood. The stagnant water has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. To solve the problem, the agency proposed having fish in the the pond that would prevent breeding of mosquitoes. “The aerators will keeping churning the water so that it does not stagnate. Also we have written to the fisheries department to give us a breed of fish that feeds on mosquito larvae,” said Das.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, “The long-term beautification project is bound to take time. So, for the time being, this low-cost initiative will be started. It will only cost a few lakhs of rupees and will be completed by July-end.”