Mumbai: Despite guardian minister Deepak Kesarkar's assurance, the BMC is still carrying out work at Malabar Hill Reservoir (MHR), complained residents of Malabar Hill on Friday. However, no work was carried out on the plot earmarked for the project, for which 389 trees are proposed to be hacked, said the civic official.
Two days back, Kesarkar had assured the residents that he would instruct the civic officials to stop the reconstruction work of MHR till the fresh audit report is presented. However, environmental activist Zoru Bhathena shared a picture of construction work carried out on the site on Friday. The residents expressed their anger at the BMC's double standards. Many of them suggested filing public interest litigation in court to stop the work.
'Not carrying out construction activities'
The civic official of the Water Supply Project Department said, "We are not carrying out any construction activities where the trees are proposed to be hacked. The work on the pumping station and other petty works are in progress. Once the core committee of residents suggest alternate locations, we will check it's feasibility with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT).
However, Bhathena said, "The BMC is constructing a new pumping station and electric sub station in the post office area so that they can shift the existing pumping station here and carry out the work in the tree areas. If they don't want to do the work, then why are they shifting here?"
The BMC has undertaken a reconstruction of the 136-year-old Malabar Hill reservoir to increase its capacity from 147.78 million litres to 191 million litres to augment the water supply to South Mumbai. More than 389 trees on the earmarked plot will be hacked for the project. Residents have requested to scrap the proposal and find an alternative location for the new tank. Also, a core committee of residents has been formed to suggest alternate locations.
