IIT Bombay's suggestion to divert the course of Mithi river alongside the internal boundary of the airport - which is the most viable option to prevent flooding of the river has already mired in controversy with both the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) locking horns over the responsibility of carrying out the work and bearing its expenses. The delay in starting the work will mean another year of flooding of the Mithi at the airport and Kurla area. IIT Bombay, which was appointed by MIAL to carry a feasibility study on the possibility of creating another channel outside the airport, recently submitted its report recommending diverting the flow of Mithi. The river which originates at Powai narrows down at Kurla at three section-towards the section to the airport, beneath the runway and the portion ahead. The three sections are handled by three different agencies: BMC, MIAL and MMRDA. But all the three agencies have refused to carry the work. MIAL spokesperson said that the lIT study was just a feasibility report and was only a suggestion on the Mithi. "But the work will be carried out by the BMC. "There is encroachment on 80 per cent of the MIAL land while the remaining 20 per cent is outside the airport's possession, so we will rehabilitate only those people on our land," he said. However, civic officials said that since the river's conflict zone passes through MIAL and it poses problems for the airport it should be MIAL that should carry the work.