Mumbai Rains: Sion-Kurla Residents Block Water Pumps, Disrupting Railway Services and Delaying Drainage

Mumbai woke up to clearer skies this morning, in a much needed respite from the torrential rains  that battered the city last few days. No overnight showers were reported, news agency PTI said, adding that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had sounded a ‘yellow alert’ for the city. However, heavy rains on Tuesday  disrupted Central Railway services, submerging four lines at Sion and two Harbour lines between Kurla and Chunabhatti. While heavy rain and rising Mithi River levels contributed to the waterlogging, civic officials said the main issue was obstruction by local residents at sites housing key railway and BMC dewatering pumps. According to a Free Press Journal report, locals near the Moon Furniture area in Sion and Kurla objected to draining water from railway tracks into their slum areas, halting operations of two railway pumps and three BMC pumps for over two hours. These pumps, with capacities of 250 and 1000 cubic metres per hour respectively, remained shut until civic officials called in the police. Pumping then resumed, and water levels gradually receded.

Speaking to Free Press Journal a  senior civic official said "Our priority was to restore railway operations by running dewatering pumps, but locals near Moon Furniture objected, claiming the water was being discharged into their area. They halted operations and even threatened the pump operator. Police were called in and stationed at the spot to prevent further disruptions. The water was fully pumped out by evening."The BMC stated that its interventions had helped prevent flooding in Chunabhatti during earlier rains this season. However, Tuesday’s heavy downpour inundated railway tracks in low-lying areas. A similar protest by locals occurred at Golibar in Santacruz, where H East ward officials had to intervene to restart a pump. The civic officials said residents resisted out of fear that their areas would flood. Following heavy downpour over the past few days, rain activity subdued considerably on Wednesday.

Records from the IMD show that between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Wednesday, the Santacruz station received only 9.8 mm rain while the Colaba coastal observatory registered a mere 0.4 mm rain.The situation in rain-soaked Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra is under control, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Wednesday as the state capital saw respite from torrential rains that brought the metropolis to a standstill a day earlier.He stated that all necessary precautions regarding disaster management are being taken by deploying NDRF and SDRF jawans in areas being lashed by heavy rains in the state. The overall rain situation in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra is pretty much under control, though some areas were still witnessing heavy rainfall,” the chief minister said.