The Stormwater Department of the BMC asked the Coastal Road team to install at least 25 water pumps to pump out water during heavy rains, as the work of increasing the size of drains is still underway. The move comes after the Marine Drive stretch flooded last week. Coastal road officials said they haven’t received any official communication yet. 

The Marine Drive area, including the stretch between Churchgate and Marine Lines railway stations, flooded on July 27, apparently owing to the ongoing Coastal Road work. “Outfall culverts were operating at half capacity. All manholes on the west side of the tracks till Marine Drive are overflowing,” a WR spokesperson said at the time of the incident. The BMC issued a statement that small rocks that were swept away by powerful waves got stuck in the rainwater outfall of Patan Jain Road. The outfall was cleared with the help of a JCB machine. High-capacity pumps were also used to drain out water.

Meanwhile, the BMC’s storm water department conducted a survey along the Coastal Road stretch and advised installing at least 25 high capacity pumps along the road. “Our team visited the site along with the Coastal Road team. We advised them to install pumps to ensure that there will be no flooding,” said an official from the BMC. 

However, an official from the Coastal Road team said though the Storm Water Department team visited the site and verbally advised them to install the pumps, they haven’t received any official communication yet. He added that the instruction was for the Charni Road stretch opposite Taraporwala aquarium and not for Marine Drive. 

BMC officials claimed that they increased the size of 16 drainage lines by almost two-and-a-half-fold along the Coastal Road. Due to the increased size of drains, the capacity of the existing storm water drains will be doubled from 1,200 mm diameter to 2,000 mm at many places, with some locations having 2,500 mm drains.

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