The recurring flooding of Mumbai due to its monsoon season is mainly due to the negligence of the people and not just of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Bombay High Court has said. A division bench headed by acting chief justice Ravindra V. Ghuge on a civic matter said the waterlogging in the city is of its own making as people illegally construct buildings and block water-carrying drainage channels and make unauthorised use of the public areas.
The Bombay High Court said that citizens are often seen throwing garbage into the drainage, setting up unauthorized stalls on the footpath and using public areas for an illegal parking area, putting the city at risk during heavy rains. Ghuge, acting chief justice, also lashed out against land encroachments that are taking place across Mumbai, saying people encroach on land and “seek protection” thereafter when the time of demolition comes.
“Our practice is to defraud our own country; we steal land illegally and then seek the books on law when the demolition notice comes”, said the Acting Chief Justice during the hearing.
Another development in her jurisdiction that the court studied was a road widening project in Mandala village on the Sion-Trombay route. The BMC stated to the bench that it had already cut down encroachments and removed 192 trees to give way to the existing 30-foot-wide road.
If the Department of Atomic Energy were to hand over the remaining land cleared of encroaching elements close to its Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the road may have to be widened to 50 feet, said civic body. The High Court has slapped a notice on the department and fixed a date for the next hearing, which is later this month to give a final thought to making a ruling.