JUST A month before the monsoons strike, the civic body got approved an additional Rs 110 crore for its existing Mithi river works contract of Rs 291 crore.

The BMC administration expressed the need for this sum after its consultant - IIT - submitted designs in October last year for the wall that has been proposed along 8.5 km of the 11.8-km river.

This river was considered responsible for the unprecedented flooding of Mumbai on July 26, 2005.

"We had initially planned a 5.9-km wall and it was of a different dimension than that proposed by the IIT," said Additional Municipal Commissioner Manu Kumar Srivastava, speaking at the standing committee meeting where approval was given for the additional works.

This extra cost is coupled with the fact that the BMC has not been able to dig as deep as it would have liked into the river.

"We hit rock bottom much sooner and so we have to now spend more in excavation and cutting works," added Srivastava.

Added Rajahans Singh, Congress leader and corporator of the Kurla-Kranti Nagar area most affected when the Mithi overflows: "I am satisfied with the progress of work on the Mithi, but we have to keep the river basin free of mud while doing other work alongside it."

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