Mumbai: Hanging Gardens at Malabar Hill to do a Houdini

The cityrsquos iconic Hanging Gardens will temporarily lose its charm as the BMC plans to rebuild the Britishera Malabar Hill reservoir underneath the park Once the project starts officials said the popular park will be uprooted in a phased manner to access the massive water storage tank that supplies water to the D ward which is home to several highprofile citizensThe overhaul and expansion of the reservoir will cost an estimated Rs 300 crore Officials said that though the paperwork has started the actual groundwork will take time and the garden will remain untouched for at least one and a half yearThe work of the reservoir will be carried out in six stages The first stage will be done next to the garden which came up in 1881 where the BMC will build an additional compartment to the existing five chambers underneath the gardenAlso read Gardens are the new footpaths for BMC corporators Mumbai activistsSources said that the focus will be to ensure uninterrupted water supply to the area They said that BMC will rip open the garden to reconstruct the five old chambers only after shifting pipelines and building the new compartmentOn the impact of the project on the trees in the garden a civic official said ldquoThey may have to be transplanted and the revamp of the garden will have to be done post the completion of the project For the transplant permissions from the tree authority are yet to be taken as the extent of the damage is yet to be accessedrdquoThe five compartments will also be repaired in parts by demolishing and reconstructing one at a time so that at any given time five compartments are operational to supply water to the D wardThe project which is expected to take about five years will boost the storage capacity and increase water supply to the residents of Malabar Hill Peddar Road Girgaum and Tardeo The storage capacity of the reservoir will increase from 143 million litres to 191 million litresA senior civic official not willing to be named said ldquoWhile smaller maintenance has been routinely taking place this is for the first time in over 140 years the reservoir would be rebuilt completely It was essentially built as a filter bed for storing water and was later used as a reservoir and the BMC continued its use similarlyrdquoThe Hanging Gardens at Malabar Hill came up 140 years ago and the reservoir is older than that said civic officialsThe official said the project is now at the tendering stage ldquoThere is no question of the garden being disturbed any time soon As the garden stands above the planned project it will have to be disturbed but we are planning to do that in parts just like the reconstruction work so that citizens donrsquot suffer Further the complete makeover of the garden will have to be done after the underground project is completedrdquoOfficials involved in the project also said that the CRZmdashCoastal Regulation Zonemdashclearance has already been taken ldquoAs it is the reconstruction of the water source it was not a problem to seek the permissionsrdquo said an officialBMC bungalow to get affectedBMC sources said the project will also disturb one of the two bungalows belonging to the hydraulic engineering department that have been allotted to the additional municipal commissioners However the structure wonrsquot be impacted for at least two or more years they said The official added ldquoThe AMC bungalow too stands nearthe project work and we are yet to ascertain how much portion will have to be disturbed and if it can be saved The project work is likely to be completed in the next five yearsrdquoRs 300 crEstimated cost for reservoir expansion project143mn litresCurrent capacity of the reservoir191mn litresCapacity of the reservoir after expansion work is completedSixNo of stages that the repair work will be carried out in