Mumbai: A team from IIT-Roorkee, which was commissioned by BMC to offer its opinion on the need to undertake an overhaul of the Malabar Hill reservoir following two conflicting reports submitted by a review committee, inspected the site on Monday. BMC said it plans to initiate talks with the experts after inspections on how the reservoir can be repaired or reconstructed while ensuring minimal impact on trees.
BMC has not set a deadline for the team to file its report. The reservoir reconstruction plan affects 389 trees, and citizens and NGOs had sought alternative solutions to cutting them.
The IIT-Roorkee team inspected the reservoir’s compartments 1 and 2, which had been emptied earlier in phases. Owing to the draining of the tanks, there has been a reduction in water supply to some parts of some wards.
Onlookers said that there were close to 100 civic staffers and security guards at the site.

Additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said a second round of inspection will be held on Tuesday. “Thereafter, I plan to meet the team to see how we can arrive at a solution in which citizens’ concerns of trees not being impacted are considered and the reservoir is repaired too. There is no doubt that the reservoir needs repairs,” he said.

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