Mumbai: Malabar Hill Reservoir Reconstruction Scrapped, But Residents Worry Over Potentially Misleading Data In IIT-R Report

Although the controversial proposal to reconstruct the Malabar Hill reservoir has been scrapped, plans are in place to build an additional tank to facilitate necessary repairs. However, the residents have expressed concerns that potentially inaccurate data provided by the BMC to the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT-R) may have led to a misleading report.

On Monday, resident delegations met civic authorities to discuss the issues. A letter outlining these concerns was also submitted to BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani. The BMC will be organising a joint discussion between IIT-R and the residents to reach a satisfactory resolution.

IIT-R's expert team has recommended constructing an additional tank with a capacity of over 52 million litres (ML) so that water supply isn't impacted when the reservoir is repaired. However, the locals argued that the tank’s total capacity is 147.78 ML, though it is rarely filled beyond 80 ML due to limited inflow. They believe that repairs could be undertaken without the need for an additional tank.

Dr Vasudev Nori and Alpa Sheth, members of the citizens' expert committee, along with residents Ravi Mandrekar, Kavas Petigara, Gita Bhatia, Sunil Davda, Pervin Sanghvi, Sherena Kha, and green activist Zoru Bhathena met with Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC, Projects) Abhijit Bangar at the civic headquarters.

Bhathena said, “The civic authorities should prioritise finding a solution to repair the reservoir without necessitating the construction of an additional reservoir.” He further added that Bangar has requested the residents to provide all pertinent data, which will be reviewed by IIT-R. “He (Bangar) has agreed to arrange a joint discussion between IIT-R and the residents,” the activist added. However, the AMC was not available for comment.

The century-old reservoir, situated beneath the Hanging Gardens, supplies 147 million litres of water daily to south Mumbai. The proposed reconstruction and augmentation, approved in February 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs698 crore, was scrapped due to vehement local opposition over the project's requirement to cut down fully-grown trees.