BMC paid Rs 33 crore to acquire disputed land; will take approximately 24 months to complete work
July 26, 2005 floods submerged the entire city
The Mogra pumping station project in Andheri, which has only been on the paper, can finally be seen getting on track after 17 years. This comes after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), after several hurdles, submitted the cost of the disputed land in the Bombay High Court. The BMC had finalised a tender for the pumping station way back in 2021. The acquisition process of the land was delayed due to legal proceedings regarding land ownership between two private parties.
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Mogra Nallah, where the station will be built. File pic
The BMC was asked to pay Rs 33 crore and proceed with the work of the pumping station. “The amount has been deposited. The cost will be disbursed to the party after the court’s decision. But that is not the BMC’s purview, and we can start the work now,” said a municipal official. BMC officials said that the work order has been issued for the construction of the pumping station. Officials said that as per the tender, the work will require 24 months, including the year’s monsoon, and it may be completed by December 2026. The new pumping station will help in the monsoon of 2027.
The pumping station is crucial to reduce flooding in Andheri. File Pic/Anurag Ahire
The Mogra pumping station is crucial to reduce flooding in Andheri, which gets submerged every year during monsoon. It was suggested by the Chitale Committee after the July 2005 floods, which submerged the entire city. To prevent a recurrence of the July 26, 2005 floods, when the city was devastated following 944 mm of rainfall in a single day, the Chitale Committee and the BRIMSTOWAD report recommended the setting up of pumping stations at eight locations to drain large amounts of water stored in low-lying areas during the high tide and heavy rain.
Out of these eight, six—at Haji Ali, Lovegrove, Cleveland, Irla, Britannia, and Ghazdarbandh—were already set up, except for the Mogra and Mahul pumping stations. The BMC had earlier appointed contractors—M/s Michigan Engineers and M/s Mhalsa Construction (jointly)—for the construction of the Mogra pumping station in June 2021, at a cost of Rs 393 crore.
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