Plight Of Navi Mumbai, Thane Amidst Torrential Rain

As every news channel and social networking site live telecasted the plight of Mumbaikars in various regions of the Island city during the torrential rains in the last month, there were hardly any reports covered for Thane and Navi Mumbai where the population is at par with the Mumbai minus the offices and business houses. While Proptiger already reported the alarming situation of Mumbai and BMC's poor preparedness for monsoon, Navi Mumbai and Thane were expected to fare better when it comes to city's drainage system. However, the situation was not as glossy as you might think.

Downpour in Thane

While Mumbai roads were packed with vehicles during the downpour of 29th August, the crowd at Thane Railway Station swelled as the local train frequency was affected due to water logging on railway tracks. The Upwan and Talaopali lakes which are surrounded by houses and faces heavy traffic overflowed and brought traffic to a standstill.  Several housing complexes in Thane were flooded and the alert was sounded in the area for Thaneites to stay inside and avoid venturing out unless extremely necessary. The downpour in Thane took many lives as many manholes in Thane were left open. This is when the municipal corporation had promised that the cleaning work of the drains has already been completed before monsoon.

Navi Mumbai's natural crises

The MIDC area in Mhape and Rabale was severely affected due to the heavy rains on 29th August. The nullahs of the new town overflowed too soon and the water found its way in MIDC factory units, damaging goods worth Rs 20 lakh. According to Prakash Paddikkal, one of the unit owners of MIDC, “The storm water drainage is poor in the MIDC area. The authority promised to offer developed plots but still, the infrastructure remains a weakness.” Apart from this, as the western and central railway network came to a halt due to safety reasons, commuters were stranded in the area for hours as no vehicle or any other medium was functional due to heavy traffic on road. However, at the same time, the elevated corridor of suburban services stayed unaffected from the rains. Since CIDCO had developed the suburban services with railway with the average track height above 1.5 meter from the city roads, the waterlogging was not a problem for the extended regions of new city.

However, the developing nodes of Ghansoli, Kharghar, Ulwe where real estate development is still in the process were worst hit as the crater-filled roads made commuting tough for the travelers. This also resulted in traffic slowdown in Airoli, Ghansoli, Mahape, Turbhe and CBD areas due to pockmarked stretches.  The low-lying areas of Navi Mumbai were worst hit which even witnessed knee to waist-deep water.