PICTURE SPEAK

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: The Mithi river winds its way past the Mumbai airport and its slums

The closure of more than 700 scrap shops along Mumbai's Mithi river last month caused both alarm and confusion. Alarm amongst the thousands who depended on the shops for their livelihood. And confusion for those who thought the black patch of water they commuted past every day was a drain, and not a river that began its life as a clear, gushing stream a short distance away from the slums. The Mithi river is in every way, Mumbai's worst-kept secret.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) closed down the shops following a high court (HC) directive to check pollution and revive the river. The court was responding to a pil filed in August by former mp and activist Kirit Somaiya. According to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), pollution in the Mithi has reached "alarming" levels. The river was filled with "raw sewage, industrial waste and garbage", was treated "like an open drain". For years, the BMC had failed to treat the sewage water which flows into the Mithi from illegal housing, public toilets and, most damningly, its own sewage drains.

"The BMC uses the river as a gutter to carry waste," says activist Girish Raut. It is widely believed that one of the reasons for the flooding of the city in July was due to the reduction in the river's water-carrying capacity. The Mithi river is 100-ft wide at its point of origin in Vihar Lake in far north Mumbai but by the time it reaches the Bandra-Kurla complex-a distance of approximately 10 km-its width gets reduced to only 40 ft.

PICTURE SPEAK

SHRINKING SHORE: Illegal housing on the banks of the Mithi has narrowed the river

Mumbai's virtually invisible river, 14.5-km-long, is lined with slums, commercial units, public toilets, residential complexes and polluting industries all of whom release their waste into the waters. "No one has spared the Mithi-not the BMC, the slums, the industries, or the airport," says Virendra Dube, a member of the Mithi River Monitoring Committee.

A trip down the river from the upscale Bandra-Kurla complex to the grey interiors of Kurla reveal the degrees of degradation. To the rich and the poor alike, the Mithi is not a river but a dumping ground for plastic, animal waste, debris and garbage. Toxic chemicals from the illegal commercial units in spurious oil mixing, plastic dealing, carpentry, radiator and barrel cleaning in the north eastern suburbs find their way into the water.

The waters of Mithi contain toxins such as cyanide, lead, sulphates and zinc. MPCB Member Secretary D. Boralkar says that the board will need at least another three months to study the effect of industrial waste on the river and suggest remedies. Somaiya's PIL had advocated the installation of effluent treatment plants for all industries to reduce toxic effluents released in the river.

Environmentalist and member of the Conservation and Action Trust, Debi Goenka says that indiscriminate reclamation of land along the river has narrowed the Mithi. "Unless these are removed, the river cannot be widened," he says. The BMC and the MPCB have ordered the closure of identified polluting units. Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Patankar says, "The BMC has ordered the closure of 771 units that lie 15 m from the Mithi's banks."

PICTURE SPEAK

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE: Encroachments stop construction in Kurla's Bail Bazaar

According to Coastal Regulatory Zone rules, no structures can be built within 15 m of the river bank. In the development plan of 1991, the river had, however, been declared a "drain" by the government to facilitate construction of housing societies. "There is connivance between the state bodies and builders," says environmentalist Rishi Agarwaal. Every time room was made for "development", the Mithi was dealt another blow. The reclamation of land to build apartment blocks destoryed wetlands and reduced the water-absorbtion capacity of the land along the river. A bridge will soon be built across the river to accommodate a new runway at Sahar airport. The Mithi will be made to flow through a tunnel. "To believe that they can make the river flow through a tunnel shows the authorities' total disregard for the river... They are treating it as a mere gutter and not a river," says Raut. Criticism of the project has led to a rethink. The Bandra-Worli Sea Link, a high profile construction project billed as having the potential to change the face of Mumbai, could cause further damage. According to Raut the reclamation of land for the sea link is obstructing the course of the river and reducing its capacity.

While the HC intervention has initiated action on the Mithi river, the pace has been slow. The Mithi River Development and Conservation Authority has met only once since its inception in August this year. "Not a single paisa has been provided for the river. It seems there is no political will to revive the Mithi," says Somaiya. However, environmentalists believe the next step in reviving the Mithi is to create awareness among people, which will facilitate the state machinery to stop the deterioration of an important natural resource which has been left to rot.