Mumbaikars are apprehensive that the civic authorities are sleeping on the job and floods will follow rain as inevitably as night follows day. Vipin Kumar reports on the preparedness of the BMC Come June and the entire country starts gearing up for its annual tryst with its capricious raingod, the cascading Meghdoot who provides the much needed respite from the inferno that the country turns into during summer. Cool showers release the soulful fragrance of mother earth, draping every patch of land in different hues of verdure in sawan: the month also an inspiration to countless Bollywood songs. However, the city has a different plane of preparedness. The city's overflowing drains, flooded roads, and stagnating water in low-lying areas prepare one for yet another set of woes - that of seasonal diseases, occasional landslides and frequent road mishaps becoming the days order where the entire city is brought to a standstill if the whimsical monsoon is in prodigious amount. For Mumbaikars, even more painful is the duck-like wading through knee-deep waters. In fact, the BMC cannot be blamed solely for the monsoon mayhem, say people who are settled there for generations. As a matter of fact, it is the usual callous approach of the civic agency and the citizens, once the monsoon is over, towards the monsoon mess combined with Mumbai's disadvantageous geography that actually compounds the problem when the city experiences rainfall annually. However, it is a fact that Mumbai receives heavy rainfall as compared to other parts of the country. Against the national average of 1200 mm Mumbai receives 2,000 mm of rainfall of which 70 per cent lashes the city in July and August. Floods in Mumbai are a consequence of the simultaneous occurrence of heavy rains along with high tides at sea. Rainfall, as much as, or more than 200 mm in 24 hours can cause floods anytime, irrespective of high tides not being part of the menace. However, if the high tides decide to play delinquent and manage to exceed 4.50 meters, a deluge hits the city. In the current monsoon season too, Mumbai might have to face the high tides on 19 days, says the metrological department. Mumbai is likely to be inundated. To avert such an eventuality, all that can be done is pray: "Rain, rain, go away". The BMC on its part plans to keep the schools closed on this day since the tide level is feared to be 5.05 metres -a record high in the last 100 years. The BMC, also responsible for meeting the vagaries of the monsoon weather, actually took 14 years to start work on its much touted Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage project (BRIM-STOWAD). Two years later not one pumping station, out of the four planned, is ready to provide relief even this monsoon. "The Haji Ali and Irla pumping stations were expected to be ready before this season's monsoon, but it seems unlikely," informed a senior BMC official. Apart from demolishing shanties of Slumdog Millionaire stars in a 'pre-monsoon demolition drive,' the BMC does not appear to have done much to avert the July-2005 like catastrophe. Though it claims that preparedness for this year is better than that made last year, only to be exposed once again when the monsoon rains washes out all its prior efforts. In despair, Mumbaikars have sought permission to construct an extra floor to take refuge in case BMC's preparedness to face the monsoon falls flat. But municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak has dismissed these pleas: I don't think they will need to do that our flood-mitigation measures will ensure that monsoon 2009 passes off smoothly for Mumbai. In view of the Meteorological Department predicting an early onset of monsoon this year, the BMC had claimed that all measures required for handling exigencies for the Mumbai monsoons would be in place by May end. That included initiatives by the BMC to have installed 211 pumping sets in 180 locations that are bothered by chronic water logging every year; keeping ready a fleet of 500 buses to rescue people stranded in flooded spots; deploying civil defense volunteers in 12 vulnerable wards. In its preparedness, the civic agency has installed 35 rain gauges all over the city to monitor situation. The BMC has also set out to sought assistance of a group of engineers from the US army to provide area-wise water logging updates every 15 minutes on its website (mcgm.gov.in) from rain gauges. In July 2005, choking of river Mithi was due to huge amount of silt deposited in it because of waste that is dumped in large quantities which was also responsible for the deluge that the city faced. This time Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) claims to have removed about 80 per cent of the silt. BMC claims 94 per cent of all the nullahs have been de-silted. The de-silting work is expected to be over by June 2. However, after making such lofty claims the civic agency seems to have realized their hollowness. It has now resorted to expectation management admitting that it may not be able to save about 55 spots in the city from flooding. In despair many Mumbaikars had sought permission to construct an extra floor to take refuge in case BMC's preparedness to face the monsoon fell flat. But municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak dismisses these pleas," I don't think they will need to do that as our flood-mitigation measures will ensure that monsoon 2009 passes off smoothly for Mumbaikars." In view of the Met Department predicting an early onset of monsoon this year, the BMC had claimed in the beginning of the month of May that all measures required for handling the exigencies during the 2009 monsoon would be in place by May 20. Measures that the BMC claims to have taken include installing 211 pumping sets in 180 locations bothered by chronic water logging; keeping ready a fleet of 500 buses to rescue people stranded in flooded spots; deploying civil defense volunteers in 12 vulnerable wards.