80% Of Mumbai’s Nariman Point, Mantralaya Will Be Under Water By 2050: BMC Chief

Mumbai: By 2050, about 80% of Mumbai’s Nariman Point and Mantralaya and 70% of A, B, C and D wards will be underwater following rising sea level, BMC Commissioner IS Chahal said.

Speaking at the launch of the Mumbai Climate Action Plan and its website at the hands of Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Friday, Chahal said south Mumbai would have around 70 per cent of the city’s A, B, C and D wards in south Mumbai will be underwater due to climate change.

He said that nature is giving warnings, but if people do not wake up, the situation will become ‘dangerous’.

“Eighty per cent of the areas like Cuffe Parade, Nariman Point and Mantralaya will be underwater…Means going to disappear,” he said.

The municipal corporation chief also said that it is only a matter of 25-30 years as 2050 is not far away. Chahal cautioned, “We are getting a warning from nature and if we do not wake up then it will be a dangerous situation for the next 25 years. And not only the next generation but the present generation will also have to bear the brunt of it.”

He said that Mumbai is the first city in South Asia which is preparing and working on its climate action plan. “Earlier we used to hear about climate change events like melting of glaciers, but they did not affect us directly. But now it has come at our doorstep,” he said.

Chahal said that last year, for the first time in 129 years, a cyclone (Nisarga) hit Mumbai and after that, there have been three cyclones in the last 15 months. After that on August 5, 2020, about 5 to 5.5 feet of water accumulated at Nariman Point.

“There was no cyclone warning that day, but looking at the parameters, it was a cyclone,” Chahal said.

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