Thousands of residents living along hill slopes and landslide-prone areas have been in a state of panic after the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appealed to them to evacuate and move to a safer place ahead of monsoon. The civic body warned residents that it would be at their own risk in case any accident or loss of life and property takes place and they do not relocate from these landslide-prone areas on time. Officials have said that the administration does not have any place to accommodate such a huge population as of now.
A report of a Geological Survey of India (GSI) study released last year, revealed six densely populated zones in the city as ‘highly vulnerable to landslides’, which can lead to the loss of life and property. The GSI’s study, titled 'Identification of Vulnerable Inhabited Hill Slopes in Mumbai’, was undertaken at the request of BMC and took more than two years to complete.
It is found that the majority of vulnerable inhabited hill slopes are in Bhandup, Parksite (Vikhroli west), Kurla, Mulund, Jogeshwari and Chembur. The report highlighted that the haphazardly built encroachments, destruction and construction on hill slopes, deforestation and poor drainage network were the main reasons for landslides in monsoon. "Most of these residents have encroached these areas. Hence, we have been warning them time and again to relocate, as there are higher chances of landslides in monsoon," said a senior BMC official.
This year, M (East) ward (Govandi, Deonar, Chembur) took the first initiative to warn the residents of vulnerable areas. "The areas under M (east) ward include Gautam Nagar at Dinkwari Marg, Om Ganesh Nagar, Rahul Nagar, Nagababa Nagar, Sahyadri Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Bharat Nagar, Banjartanda, Hashu Advani Nagar and Vishnu Nagar at Gadkari Marg.
