Rain rage: When it pours, it (also) floods!

Heavy downpour forces discharge from Khadakwasla Over 1,000 families in city slums evacuated; no loss of lives

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: Over 1,000 huts in 19 slums along the banks of the Mutha river in the city were on Tuesday washed away following heavy discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam upstream. While no loss of life was reported, the floods displaced 1,069 families and caused considerable damage to property along the river banks.

    The Pune municipal corporation (PMC), the city police and the district collectorate pressed panic buttons and jointly launched a massive operation to shift the slumdwellers located along the river banks to municipal school premises on higher ground.

    The river, which is routinely reduced to a “sewage carrier” for a major part of the year, virtually changed its colour when around 5,000 cusecs of water was released at 7 am from the dam. This was followed with discharge of 14,000 cusecs and 24,800 cusecs of water at 8 am and 9 am, respectively.

    The water reached Rajaram bridge around 9.30 am and gushed into Shamsundar housing society, Jalpooja apartments and Dwarika society. It reached Mhatre bridge an hour later, inundating the riverside road and Shelar Vasti slum. It also gushed into the Pulachiwadi, behind Deccan Gymkhana bus terminus, off Jangli Maharaj road, displacing 40 hutment dwellers.

    The water started overflowing Baba Bhide bridge, linking Deccan Gymkhana and Narayan Peth, by 10.30 am, washing off nine eatery stalls erected along the riverside road.

    However, more was to come: the river went on rising throughout the day following discharge of 25,180 cusecs at 3 pm and another 20,905 cusecs at 5 pm. The water gushed into 19 slum pockets, displacing 1,069 hutment owners.

    The main slums which were affected and the number of families displaced were: Patil Estate slum (375), Kamgar Putala slum (140), Rajiv Gandhinagar (120), Pulachiwadi (40), Rajpaut (35), Adarshanagar (40), Sanjay Gandhinagar (25), Shelar Vasti (25), Shantinagar slum (55), Indiranagar slum (60), Tadiwala road slum (60), Vighnaharta (23), Sati Asara (30), Omkareshwar (15) and Shivaji slum (19).

    Waters of the Mula river, which meets the Mutha near Sangam bridge, also gushed into slum pockets along Alandi road and Yerwada. Local corporator Shivaji Kshirsagar said 20 huts near Parnakuti were washed away.

    Arjun Mastud, executive engineer of the Maharashtra Krishna valley development corporation (MKVDC), said it was forced to release water following heavy rains in the catchments of Khadakwasla, Panshet and Varasgaon dams.

    The Khadakwasla dam, which has a capacity of 56 million cubic metres, had only 60 per cent storage on Monday evening, but this shot up to 86 per cent by Tuesday morning. Storage in Panshet and Varasgaon dams also increased.

    Water discharge from these two dams is stored in the Khadakwasla dam, which acts as a buffer between the two dams and the city. When the MKVDC decided to bring down the Khadakwasla storage level by releasing water into the Mutha, it alerted the district and civic administrations. An announcement about the impending water discharge was also made on All India Radio’s morning news.

    This helped the PMC and the district administration initiate measures to evacuate people from these slums. The PMC and district collectorate pressed into service jeeps and rickshaws with loudspeakers to urge people in these areas to shift to designated civic schools.

    In some cases, where slumdwellers refused to shift, the district administration sought the help of the police and forced them to vacate their shanties. This avoided loss to life, but several huts and eatery stalls near Bhide bridge could not escape damage.

    Ratnadeep Khadke, president of the stall owners’ association, congratulated the PMC for the timely alert.

Riding the ‘wave’

7 am: Khadakwasla dam releases 5,000 cusecs 7.30 am: Citizens alerted by AIR bulletin; PMC uses loudspeakers to warn people in slums along the river bank 8 am: Another 14,000 cusecs of water released 9 am: 24,000 cusecs of water released from Khadakwasla 9.30 am: Water gushes into Shamsundar housing society near Rajaram bridge 10 am: Water levels rise swiftly under Mhatre bridge; riverside road submerged, slums behind Deccan Gymkhana bus terminus hit 10.30 am: Baba Bhide bridge submerged; stalls under ‘Z’ bridge washed out 3 pm: 25,180 cusecs discharged 5 pm: 20,905 cusecs flow from Khadakwasla dam

Water from Khadakwasla dam (top) gushes into the Mutha river on Tuesday, after authorities decided to release about 90,000 cusecs on account of heavy rains in the catchment area over the past week. In downstream Deccan Gymkhana (bottom left), workers of a snack stall in Pulachiwadi attempt to get their freezer out of harm’s way. Till late on Tuesday evening, the normally dry riverbed had waters that threatened to flow over the Kakasaheb Gadgil bridge in Erandwane (bottom right).