Mumbai: Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray inaugurated the most-delayed Gazdhar Bandh pumping station in Santa Cruz on Thursday. The newly-inaugurated pumping station is expected to provide a much-needed relief from water-logging during the monsoon to the people of the western suburbs, like Bandra (West), Khar, Santacruz, Juhu and Vile Parle.
Constructed at a cost of Rs121 crore, the project started in 2014-15, and was scheduled to begin operation in 2016-17. However, the cost escalated due to numerous delays. The work on the Gazdhar Bandh pumping station, constructed under the Brimstowad project of the BMC, was delayed due to various reasons.
Earlier, the contract was awarded to Pratibha Constructions, which later proved to be inefficient and completed only 35 per cent of the work. The contractor was later blacklisted, and a new contractor was appointed and the cost was pegged at Rs54 crore. The original deadline given to the new contractor was January this year, which was later extended to June.
An officer from the storm water department said, “The pumping station’s operations are delayed by two years. It was set to become operational in 2016, but the earlier contractor delayed the work. Finally, the work is over. The pumping station will give a major relief from waterlogging in the western suburbs.”