Kemps corner and Peddar road in south Mumbai, on Wednesday and Thursday, witnessed the fury of the rains in the form of landslides and uprooted trees. A major landslide near Kemps Corner flyover developed a huge crack on the BG Kher road (Ridge road) outside the iconic hanging garden and damaged the retaining wall of the garden too.
The incident did not just damage the road at Kemps Corner. 10 trees on the hill slope along the road were uprooted and a water pipeline (which supplied water to areas in south Mumbai in the jurisdiction of D ward) was damaged.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner of D ward (Malabar Hill and Peddar road) Prashant Gaikwad said, "We were informed that there was some major problem at BG Kher Road. We reached the spot and closed the stretch for the traffic during early hours. After a few hours, the portion of the retaining wall collapsed too."
Local corporators in various civic wards circulated messages alerting the citizens of likely water cuts in their area due to the pipeline damage. Harshita Narwekar, corporator of ward 226 (Colaba) stated, “The landslide at Peddar Road, has damaged water pipelines supplying water to our area from Malabar Hill Reservoir. Even as the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Water Department is actively working on repairing the pipelines, please note in addition to the 20 per cent water cut that has been instituted, there is a possibility of reduced or no water supply for next 2 to 3 days." Narwekar appealed to the citizens to use the water judiciously.
Meanwhile, a senior engineer from BMC's hydraulic department said, "It is likely that there will be a water cut in areas that get water supply from Malabar Hill Reservoir for next 2 to 3 days. However, this is just a last possibility; we are putting in 100 percent to repair and resolve the issue at the earliest."
On Thursday afternoon, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and state Environment and Tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray visited Peddar Road spot where the portion of the retaining wall had collapsed on Wednesday night.
Officials stated that BG Kher Road (Ridge Road) at the hill slope passes from the iconic hanging Gardens, Kamla Nehru park and the Tower of Silence. There was a long retaining wall on the side of the road. Down the hill is a key road near Kemps Corner Bridge, which was damaged," said BMC official.
