Creating another deluge?
The Concerned Citizen's Commission, a coalition of citizens groups, has submitted its enquiry report on the Mumbai deluge of July 26, 2005. The report holds poor drainage, sanitation and waste management system to be primarily responsible for the floods. But the Maharashtra government is yet to pay heed to the report. Rather, it is busy de-silting river Mithi, a task inaugurated a few weeks ago.
The river's catchment area decreased due to encroachment and silting. The de-silting activity is in full speed as it needs to be finished before the coming monsoon. But authorities are yet to find a landfill to dispose of the silt. Environmentalists allege that it is being dumped on mangroves at the outskirts of the city, thereby deepening the crisis and making flooding imminent in the monsoon.