The residents of four housing societies located at Vakola`s Khandwala Compound road have been fighting an uphill battle with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the past two years, as a planned Development Plan (DP) road that provides access to these buildings has remained a ‘kutcha’, non-concreted road.
The road witnesses severe waterlogging during the monsoon, leading to the accumulation of garbage once the rainwater has drained. As it marks the access points for these buildings, citizens have expressed concerns about safety and the inconvenience of commuting in and out of their homes during the monsoon months, especially for senior citizens and children.
Waterlogging on the road as seen after a heavy downpour. Pic/Eeshanpriya MS
Three departments from the BMC responsible for solving the situation, the H East ward office with jurisdiction over the area, the Civic Roads and Traffic Department, and the Development Plan (DP) Department, have been passing the buck regarding this issue since October 2023, leading to no action on the ground.
Residents speak
Yatin Shah, a resident of Amity Housing Society, which is among the buildings affected by the issue, said, “After heavy rain, the entire road gets waterlogged. There are no channels or slopes along the road to drain rainwater naturally. As its surface is mostly mud and gravel, it also becomes very slippery. Once the water has drained into the earth below, we have to deal with a marshy and slippery surface for many more hours.”
Yatin Shah, a resident of Amity Housing Society
Nimish Chitalia, another resident of Amity Society, said, “We have faced this problem since 2019, even though it appears on BMC`s records since 2023. For many years now, BMC has completely ignored our issue. I am 60 years old, and every monsoon, I navigate a waterlogged road to access the main road from my housing society. This is fraught with garbage, stones, and even stray branches of trees.”
The management of Anjali Kiran Society wrote to BMC to draw its attention to the issue, and pointed out that they have been denied an important amenity of a tarred road with access to the main road. The letter, a copy of which is with mid-day read, “Despite the declaration of the DP road passing through our land and having been acquired by the BMC, no road with a storm water drain has been constructed, resulting in heavy waterlogging during the monsoon, which creates health hazards.”
The problem
According to records from BMC accessed by mid-day, the road spans approximately 320 metres. It is dotted with commercial and residential encroachments, according to BMC, which requires multi-department coordination to take the project of concretisation forward.
Following repeated complaints from the residents, the H East ward office in October 2023 informed the Roads Department to include concreting of this road in its annual calendar of road work projects.
In its letter, the ward officials also pointed out that a fire had been reported in the nearby ‘Pragati Building’, posing challenges for the Mumbai fire brigade to access the spot for fire-fighting operations. The letter read, “This office received various complaints from the local public regarding improvement of the 9.15 metre wide DP road from Khandwala Lane to Datta Mandir Road. …some stretches are in bad condition.”
Following a waterlogged monsoon in 2024, the residents wrote to the Urban Development Department in January 2025, requesting intervention to concrete the road. “We have followed up with every department in the BMC that is responsible for the issue. We wrote multiple letters to BMC, but to no avail. We finally approached the Urban Development Department of the Government of Maharashtra for intervention in January. But yet another monsoon has arrived, and the situation has not changed for us,” Shah said.
BMC passes the buck
An official from the Roads Department involved in the issue said, “No work can be started without a no-objection certificate from the Development Plan Department, clarifying that the handover of this road’s ownership has actually taken place. Moreover, the local ward needs to ensure all encroachments are removed.” Officials from the DP Department were unavailable for comment.
The residents have produced affidavits and receipts received from the BMC that certify that the road has been handed over to the DP Department from the housing societies (a copy of the receipts is available with mid-day).
What is a DP road?
A DP road appears on the Development Plan of the civic body, prepared every two decades, which presents a blueprint for the development of the city. Existing ‘kutcha’ or internal roads are identified and mapped in the Development Plan, indicating crucial connectivity between areas.
320m
Length of the road
