Pune Metro update: Construction of Metro Piers along left bank of Mutha River is being executed under supervision of Expert committee

The construction work of Metro Piers along the left bank of the Mutha River is being executed under the supervision of an Expert committee appointed by NGT under chair ship of divisional commissioner, Pune. The matter is sub judice with the NGT. In view of the recent news print reports regarding alleged flooding of Mutha River owing to construction of Metro piers citing CWPRS report following clarification is issued by Maha-Metro

  • The CWRPS report will be presented and discussed with the Expert Committee during the forthcoming meeting under the Chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner.
  • However, Maha-Metro is of the view that the reported values are far from the truth.
  • The CWPRS Report compares well with the report submitted to the NGT by Maha-Metro.
  • The issue of afflux and increased spread of river due to construction of Piers of Metro Viaduct along the left bank of Mutha River has been highlighted in press reports of several newspapers of Pune on 19th January 2021. 
  • It is apparently based on erroneous interpretation of CWPRS Report on this issue. There are in all 46 piers of Metro Viaduct falling in this stretch. 
  • CWPRS has estimated afflux in the flood level caused due to obstruction at each of these piers for two flood situations viz. 60000 cusecs and 100,000 cusecs. 
  • These floods refer to Blue Line and Red Line respectively. 
  • The afflux calculated at the flood of 60000 cusecs and 100,000 cusecs is 241 mm (i.e. 10 inches) and 219 mm (i.e. 9 inches) respectively. 
  • These are very small values. Apart from this it is a local afflux as can be noted from the following Photograph taken during the floods of 2019. 
  • The increase in spread of the river as a result of the afflux is reported in the newspapers of the day as 116 m to 140 m which is much exaggerated beyond the reported values in CWPRS Report, as can be noted from the report itself. 
  • Generally, the total increase in spread at discharge of 100,000 cusecs is of the order of 2.5 m to 11 m meaning on an average 1.25 m to 5.5 m on either side of the river.
  • At a few locations (3 to 4 locations out of 46 locations) the spread is more than these values due to local depressions near Sitaphali Baug. 
  • Thus, the reported values are far from the truth. 
  • The CWPRS Report compares well with the report submitted to the NGT by Maha Metro.
  • This Report will be presented and discussed with the Expert Committee during the forthcoming meeting under the Chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner.

Source: Pune Metro-Press Release