Mumbai: After facing several hurdles over the past decade, the work of constructing a retaining wall alongside the banks of the Dahisar river is finally reaching its end, with only 800m of wall remaining to be erected. The civic body recently invited a tender for the work at the estimated cost of Rs29 crore. Completion of the project will bring an end to the flooding problem in nearby areas, said a civic official.
Dahisar river originates from Tulsi lake in Sanjay Gandhi National Park and flows down into the creek at Gorai. It is 12km long and extremely narrow in some sections mainly due to encroachments. “There were approximately 872 hutments along Dahisar river, of which 717 were removed and 92% work of the retaining wall has been completed. We had to construct 4.5km of wall on both sides of the river bank, so the remaining work of 800m of the wall is expected to start from Jan 2023,” a civic official said, adding that it has taken nearly a decade of hard work.
In its final phase, the BMC will be removing 155 shanties from Sainath Nagar for construction of retaining walls. “The R-Central ward officials are in talks with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority for this slum. Once the slums are removed, the remaining work is expected to be completed in 18 months. This will also clear the way for the project of rejuvenation of Dahisar river,” said another official. The work will bring relief to Sainath Nagar, Amba Ashish, Daulat Nagar, Srikrishna Nagar and Abhinav Nagar areas.
The civic project to widen existing rivers to keep the suburbs flood-free followed by a river rejuvenating program is part of the BMC’s Brihanmumbai Stormwater Disposal (Brimstowad) project, launched in 2005 to prevent flooding. The project includes the removal of encroachments, sewage treatment, construction of nallah interceptors to prevent sewage discharge into rivers and construction of service roads along the banks. The estimated cost of the overall project is Rs246 crore.
Dahisar river length
12km
Retaining wall work remaining
4.5km (either side of river bank)
Total shanties
872
Shanties removed
717
