Waterlogged Hindmata is often a favourite spot for photographers who wish to capture the condition of Mumbai during monsoon. However, now, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Indian Railways have jointly undertaken one of the most important projects to eliminate this waterlogging problem. At 1,22,960mm (403 feet approximately), one of the longest underground drainage pipelines through micro tunnelling below the tracks will be seen here.
The neighbourhood saw severe waterlogging on June 9. The two agencies have begun the work of creating a pipeline through micro tunnelling below the rail tracks passing on both Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) and also built an underground tank to store excess rainwater that would prevent waterlogging at Hindmata.
As part of this project, work on the drainage pipeline below the railway tracks has started on the WR side. "The micro tunnelling below the railway lines was found to be feasible. Work has begun and we have reached two railway lines already. The depth of this tunnel is 1 to 1.5 meters," explained a senior railway official.
In the first link, the work will be carried out below the railway tracks on WR. This is happening between Dadar and Prabhadevi railway stations. There are five rail tracks on the WR stretch, after which there is a patch of open land before it enters the CR, where another four tracks on slow and fast lines exist.
As per the details of the work, two pipelines made of mild steel are being laid as sewerage drains below the tracks. These pipelines are of 1,200mm diameter over which a casing of 1,700mm will be laid. The length of this pipeline will be 1.23 lakh mm, of which 6,7930mm will come under WR and 55,030mm will come under CR.
"The work in collaboration with the WR has already started. It will take 60 days to complete the drive. But, for this monsoon, we are not relying on this tunnel. We have connected the existing arch drain to the Pramod Mahajan tank," said P Velrasu, BMC additional municipal commissioner (projects).
The project also includes building underground tanks and pipelines below Pramod Mahajan Udyan at Dadar (West) and St Xavier Ground at Parel to store excess rainwater and prevent flooding at Hindmata. The civic body has already begun constructing tanks and laying stormwater drains to channel rainwater to these tanks. BMC needs to lay a 1,600mm diameter drainpipe covering a distance of 650 meters from Hindmata to Pramod Mahajan Park. Permission was obtained on May 31, 2021, to carry the underground channels connecting these underground tanks through the Tata Mill area. This is now accelerating the work of laying underground aqueducts. Once this work is completed, Hindmata will be relieved of waterlogging.
The work at Tata Mills compound was stayed, which delayed the work for a few months. However, the stay has now been lifted, informed senior BMC officials, giving a fillip to the project. " Yes. The stay has been lifted and work has started there as well. We will expedite the work now," added Velrasu.
