Kunte go-ahead ruffles Shiv Sena
A major clash between the Shiv Sena — the ruling party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — and the civic administration is in the offing over the Mithi river desilting issue. Despite fierce opposition from Sena, municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte has approved desliting of the Mithi river that falls under the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
Mr Kunte is also the chairman of the Greater Mumbai Disaster Management Authority (GMDMA). By using a Central government law — the Disaster Management Act — he has directed the BMC to carry out the desilting of Mithi, even in the jurisdiction of MMRDA.
Sena had opposed the desilting of Mithi in MMRDA areas, stating that the state government-owned agency should first pay for it. The civic standing committee had twice turned down the proposal of desilting Mithi river, which falls in the jurisdiction of MMRDA.
“Important works can be cleared by the GMDMA if it feels they are necessary to prevent disastrous circumstances. If Mithi had not been desilted properly, there would have been water-logging in several areas of the city. Delaying the works could have proved fatal,” said a senior civic official.
Desilting of the 7.6 kilometre-stretch of the river that falls in the control of MMRDA, will cost around `23 crore. Desilting work will start within a day and after the commissioner’s approval, it will not come to the civic standing committee for approval.
Rahul Shewale, standing committee chairman said that the MMRDA has written to the BMC agreeing to pay for the desilting after the work was done.
Mithi river flows through several low-lying areas of Kurla, Santa Cruz, Vakola, which bore the main brunt of the 2005 deluge. According to civic officials, the de-silting of the 11.8-km-long Mithi river was done by BMC till last year, while the rest was taken care of by the MMRDA. However, this year, the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority asked the civic body to desilt the entire stretch of river.
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