Indian Express 29.06.2010
Age of slums is why BMC hesitates to remove settlers around water mains
Stuti Shukla Tags : BMC water mains protection project, mumbai Posted: Tue Jun 29 2010, 00:18 hrs
Mumbai: More than a year after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) came up with a project to protect the water mains and the adjoining municipal land from encroachments, barely 7 per cent of the total work has been completed. Of the total encroached area of 1.42 lakh square metres adjacent to water pipelines, reservoirs and pumping stations identified by the hydraulic engineering department, only 10,000 square metres of such land has been cleared until now. The reason for the delay in the Rs.81-crore project is that over 70 per cent of the slums along pipelines have been built before 1995 and the civic body needs to provide alternative housing for them before demolishing the hutments.The proposal was passed with a view to prevent damage to pipelines that happen through frequent thefts and pilferage by those residing in the encroached areas. Nearly 20 per cent of the total water supplied to the city is lost owing to thefts and leakages.
The civic body had in May 2009 passed a proposal for protection of pipelines, reservoirs and pumping stations and the adjoining land owned by the hydraulic engineering department by constructing compound walls, fencing and developing gardens on the land. The proposal also included surveillance of pipelines by security guards. The contract was awarded to Krystal security firm for carrying out surveillance for a period of two years. However, after spending of Rs 13.85 crore —the total allocated budget is Rs 81 crore— only seven percent of the work has been completed.
In a survey conducted by the hydraulic engineering department of the BMC, a total area of 1,42,158 square metre was found to be encroached upon by hutments close to a stretch of 61.7 kilometres of water pipelines and a number of reservoirs and pumping stations across the city, eastern and western suburbs. As many as 15,743 such structures were identified.
In the past one year, 6000 square metres of encroached land adjacent to water pipelines near the international airport in Andheri and 3000 suqare metres of encroached land near the BMC ward office in Bandra has been cleared by demolishing hutments.
“In most cases, we can’t demolish slums because they are protected. Following the court’s clearance to the demolish slums near airport and in Bandra, we have constructed compound walls, pathways and gardens around it after razing hutments. We have also posted security guards to prevent encroachments. However, for the rest of the places, we need to constrcut alternative housing before carrying out demolition drive,” said Deputy Hydraulic Engineer Pramod Guhe. However, he added that the remaining work would be completed before May 2011.
