Mumbai: Delays in initiating desilting work of the 18 km Mithi river led to a large debate at the civic standing committee meeting on Wednesday, with corporators across party lines raising an alarm over the absence of a contractor and the looming monsoon.Members questioned the BMC administration on its preparedness, pointing out that the deadline for the Mithi desilting tender has already lapsed without any response from contractors. They warned that any further delay in beginning the desilting works could aggravate flooding risks, especially if the monsoon arrives early.A point of order was raised by Congress party leader corporator Ashraf Azmi, who flagged the situation in pockets of Kurla, which is his corporator ward, stating that it is already vulnerable during high tide. “Water enters buses in our area during high tide itself. If Mithi desilting does not happen, how will the administration tackle flooding?” he asked, adding that the issue was serious enough to warrant urgent intervention rather than procedural delays.Shiv Sena party leader Amey Ghole said the tidal impact along the Mithi’s outfall affects areas from Dadar to Wadala, and demanded clarity on the administration’s action plan in the coming days. “By March 23, when the BMC house will meet, everyone should be informed about the course of action as concerns over the Mithi are among many elected representatives whose wards get impacted because of the flooding,” he said.Raising concerns over recurring monsoon vulnerabilities, Congress corporator Tulip Miranda questioned whether the administration was “waiting for another calamity”, stating that desilting work was carried out in previous years, so why is starting the work facing so many hurdles. “Have all the police inquiries of the past year led to some kind of a fright?” said Miranda.NCP corporator Dr Saeeda Khan also flagged the tidal impact in her ward and asked how seriously the administration was treating Mithi-related flood preparedness.UBT Shiv Sena corporator Shraddha Jadhav said that, similar to last year, if the city sees early monsoon, it’s unlikely that any amount of desilting works would be done at all of Mithi.Additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said that they haven’t received any bidders yet following an extension but have decided to again extend the deadline. “This is a last seven-day extension that we are giving,” said Bangar. The BMC has also not received any bids for desilting of major nullahs in zone 5, which includes wards of eastern suburbs like M east, M west.
