Why Mumbai’s Mithi River suffers from sewage, scam, and Shiv Sena influence
Most of western India becomes aware of the approaching monsoon with a fall in temperature followed by pleasant raindrops and petrichor. For Mumbaikars, however, the approaching monsoon is heralded by news reports of politicians visiting desilting sites and posing before JCBs for photo opportunities. It is followed by the news of multi-crore tenders for the work, official claims about the speed of desilting, and reassurances that the city is being prepared for the rainy season. For the past two decades, the Mithi river has been the focal point of this annual exercise.
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Mithi in Hindi means sweet. In Marathi, Mithi means a hug. The river Mithi originates from the overflow of Vihar Lake, joins the overflow from Powai Lake two kilometres down the line, and flows on to meet the Mahim Creek, an inlet of the Arabian Sea, after traversing a total length of 18 km. Industrial complexes and residential colonies flank this seasonal river. Slums, illegal garages, and scrap businesses add to its pollution. Work on cleaning and protecting the Mithi started in 2005, following the deluge of July 26, when 944 mm of rain fell in 24 hours, killing 1,000 people in Mumbai. The worst damage took place along the Mithi, drawing attention to the dying river. A rush of announcements from the State government, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on cleaning and rejuvenating the river soon followed. The State government formed the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority (MRDPA), which was tasked with coordinating the work between the MMRDA and the BMC.
A total of Rs.1,150 crore has been spent on the cleaning exercise in the past 20 years: the MMRDA spent Rs.504 crore and the BMC, Rs.646 crore. A repeat of the 2005 disaster may seem unlikely, but the work on cleaning the Mithi remains incomplete. The BMC, which decided to build service roads along both sides of the river, has laid out roads for only 3.18 km against the planned 12.5 km. A protection wall has been constructed over 17.3 km against the planned 21.4 km.
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Also Read | Cleaning the Yamuna: Will Delhi’s new government succeed where others failed?
The MMRDA was to clean the river waters and maintain water quality. Over the years, multiple agencies were appointed for the task, and international tenders were floated. Yet, the pollution level is still high. An awareness campaign aimed at sensitising riverbank residents has met with limited success.
In 2017, the BMC started a four-phased project to divert 285 MLD of sewage from flowing into the Mithi basin and channel it into the city’s sewage system. Only the first phase was completed. In the remaining three phases, a 8.3-km sewer line, a 7-km retaining wall, 25 interceptors, a sewage pumping station, and gate pumps at 25 locations are planned. The tender for the fourth phase was floated in February 2025. But all these efforts have failed to bring about the desired changes.
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Untreated industrial waste flows into the Mithi below the Saki Naka bridge in Andheri (East).
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI
Experts believe that the issue is complex and the cleaning effort can succeed only through larger public participation, genuine commitment from the authorities, and a scientific approach.
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Akanksha Dandekar, an environmentalist from Mumbai, said: “Mithi is an urban river. So, like all other urban rivers, it comes with its own problems including pollution, sewage systems [that drain into it], as well as uncontrolled and constant encroachment. The authorities have divided these problems as per their line of duty. So, there is no comprehensive approach to clean the river.”
Another veteran environmentalist from Mumbai, Girish Raut, said: “Stopping sewage entering Mithi must be the urgent priority. The BMC announced cleaning up of Mithi in 2005 and started working on sewage plans in 2018. This delay explains everything.”
Battle for BMC
More than 15 lakh people stay on both sides of the Mithi river, and half of them have businesses there—motor garages, scrap trading, and dealing in reused plastic. Arundhati Sankhla, who is an urban planner, said: “Do the authorities have any plans to relocate these businesses? People, mostly unemployed and unskilled, keep coming to these places in search of work. Stopping the encroachment alongside the riverbank and prohibiting such businesses is a must.” A retired BMC officer, who worked in Kurla during the last decade, agreed: “It is a known fact. But political pressure and the behind-the-scenes nexus of officers, local leaders, and the police come in the way of relocation of these businesses.”
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Corruption is another problem. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Maharashtra filed an FIR in May 2025, naming 13 people for allegedly causing wrongful losses to the BMC to the tune of Rs.65.54 crore. Based on the EOW’s predicate offence report, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in May and began an investigation into suspected money laundering. Three of the 13 people involved are BMC officials, including deputy chief engineers Prashant Ramgude and Ganesh Bendre, and an official named Prashant Tayshetye. The FIR by EOW also named senior executives of the contractors involved in the desilting project. Ten people from eight private infrastructure companies are named in the FIR.
But this story is not just about corruption. There are also political rivalries at play. As part of its investigations, the ED conducted the searches at several locations in Mumbai on June 7, including the residence of Bollywood actor Dino Morea. The BJP’s Ashish Shelar (leader of the party’s Mumbai unit), former party MP Kirit Somaiyya, and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) spokesperson and MP Naresh Mhaske have said that Morea is a friend of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray. Naresh Mhaske has claimed Morea received money from one of the accused in the case, probably to bribe some people. This has led to speculation that Thackeray could be probed too in the next few months.
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The actor Dino Morea arrives at the Economic Offences Wing office in Mumbai on May 28, 2025, in connection with the Mithi river desilting scam case.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The BMC, Asia’s richest civic body, will go to the polls later this year. Since 1995, the Shiv Sena has had complete control over the BMC. From 1995 to 2017, the Shiv Sena and BJP ran the BMC together. In 2017, the two parties fought civic elections separately; the Shiv Sena got 84 seats and BJP 82 in the 228-member civic body. The Shiv Sena got the Mayor’s post and that of the Standing Committee Chairman. The term of this body ended in February 2022, but fresh elections could not take place because of court cases pending in the Supreme Court over the ward delimitation issues. In April 2025, the court asked the State government to hold the elections “in four months”.
Also Read | Sabarmati Riverfront project’s neoliberal dream leaves thousands displaced and abandoned
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The Shiv Sena’s rise in Maharashtra started after it won the cash-rich BMC in 1995. Mumbai is the party’s founding place and the soul of its organisation. At present, however, the party is going through one of its worst phases. The majority of its MLAs are with Eknath Shinde following the 2022 split. The Shinde faction is supported by the mighty BJP, which wants to win the BMC election. The Uddhav Thackeray faction won just 20 seats in the Assembly elections held in November 2024. Significantly, however, 10 of those 20 seats are in Mumbai, showing that Uddhav still has a base in Mumbai. That is why it is important for the BJP to weaken the Uddhav faction of the Sena.
Given this context, the measures taken by the EOW and ED are widely seen as political moves aimed at exerting pressure on the Thackeray family and their supporters on the ground. Cleaning the Mithi is a sensitive issue for Mumbaikars, and the failure to do so, even after two decades, is viewed as clear evidence of entrenched corruption within the BMC. The ED searches at the residence of Morea have handed the BJP and the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) a political opportunity—framing the action less as an anti-corruption effort and more as a move in the battle for control over the BMC.
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Most of western India becomes aware of the approaching monsoon with a fall in temperature followed by pleasant raindrops and petrichor. For Mumbaikars, however, the approaching monsoon is heralded by news reports of politicians visiting desilting sites and posing before JCBs for photo opportunities. It is followed by the news of multi-crore tenders for the work, official claims about the speed of desilting, and reassurances that the city is being prepared for the rainy season. For the past two decades, the Mithi river has been the focal point of this annual exercise.
Mithi in Hindi means sweet. In Marathi, Mithi means a hug. The river Mithi originates from the overflow of Vihar Lake, joins the overflow from Powai Lake two kilometres down the line, and flows on to meet the Mahim Creek, an inlet of the Arabian Sea, after traversing a total length of 18 km. Industrial complexes and residential colonies flank this seasonal river. Slums, illegal garages, and scrap businesses add to its pollution. Work on cleaning and protecting the Mithi started in 2005, following the deluge of July 26, when 944 mm of rain fell in 24 hours, killing 1,000 people in Mumbai. The worst damage took place along the Mithi, drawing attention to the dying river. A rush of announcements from the State government, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on cleaning and rejuvenating the river soon followed. The State government formed the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority (MRDPA), which was tasked with coordinating the work between the MMRDA and the BMC.
A total of Rs.1,150 crore has been spent on the cleaning exercise in the past 20 years: the MMRDA spent Rs.504 crore and the BMC, Rs.646 crore. A repeat of the 2005 disaster may seem unlikely, but the work on cleaning the Mithi remains incomplete. The BMC, which decided to build service roads along both sides of the river, has laid out roads for only 3.18 km against the planned 12.5 km. A protection wall has been constructed over 17.3 km against the planned 21.4 km.
Also Read | Cleaning the Yamuna: Will Delhi’s new government succeed where others failed?
The MMRDA was to clean the river waters and maintain water quality. Over the years, multiple agencies were appointed for the task, and international tenders were floated. Yet, the pollution level is still high. An awareness campaign aimed at sensitising riverbank residents has met with limited success.
In 2017, the BMC started a four-phased project to divert 285 MLD of sewage from flowing into the Mithi basin and channel it into the city’s sewage system. Only the first phase was completed. In the remaining three phases, a 8.3-km sewer line, a 7-km retaining wall, 25 interceptors, a sewage pumping station, and gate pumps at 25 locations are planned. The tender for the fourth phase was floated in February 2025. But all these efforts have failed to bring about the desired changes.
Untreated industrial waste flows into the Mithi below the Saki Naka bridge in Andheri (East).
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI
Experts believe that the issue is complex and the cleaning effort can succeed only through larger public participation, genuine commitment from the authorities, and a scientific approach.
Akanksha Dandekar, an environmentalist from Mumbai, said: “Mithi is an urban river. So, like all other urban rivers, it comes with its own problems including pollution, sewage systems [that drain into it], as well as uncontrolled and constant encroachment. The authorities have divided these problems as per their line of duty. So, there is no comprehensive approach to clean the river.”
Another veteran environmentalist from Mumbai, Girish Raut, said: “Stopping sewage entering Mithi must be the urgent priority. The BMC announced cleaning up of Mithi in 2005 and started working on sewage plans in 2018. This delay explains everything.”
Battle for BMC
More than 15 lakh people stay on both sides of the Mithi river, and half of them have businesses there—motor garages, scrap trading, and dealing in reused plastic. Arundhati Sankhla, who is an urban planner, said: “Do the authorities have any plans to relocate these businesses? People, mostly unemployed and unskilled, keep coming to these places in search of work. Stopping the encroachment alongside the riverbank and prohibiting such businesses is a must.” A retired BMC officer, who worked in Kurla during the last decade, agreed: “It is a known fact. But political pressure and the behind-the-scenes nexus of officers, local leaders, and the police come in the way of relocation of these businesses.”
Corruption is another problem. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Maharashtra filed an FIR in May 2025, naming 13 people for allegedly causing wrongful losses to the BMC to the tune of Rs.65.54 crore. Based on the EOW’s predicate offence report, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in May and began an investigation into suspected money laundering. Three of the 13 people involved are BMC officials, including deputy chief engineers Prashant Ramgude and Ganesh Bendre, and an official named Prashant Tayshetye. The FIR by EOW also named senior executives of the contractors involved in the desilting project. Ten people from eight private infrastructure companies are named in the FIR.
But this story is not just about corruption. There are also political rivalries at play. As part of its investigations, the ED conducted the searches at several locations in Mumbai on June 7, including the residence of Bollywood actor Dino Morea. The BJP’s Ashish Shelar (leader of the party’s Mumbai unit), former party MP Kirit Somaiyya, and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) spokesperson and MP Naresh Mhaske have said that Morea is a friend of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray. Naresh Mhaske has claimed Morea received money from one of the accused in the case, probably to bribe some people. This has led to speculation that Thackeray could be probed too in the next few months.
The actor Dino Morea arrives at the Economic Offences Wing office in Mumbai on May 28, 2025, in connection with the Mithi river desilting scam case.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The BMC, Asia’s richest civic body, will go to the polls later this year. Since 1995, the Shiv Sena has had complete control over the BMC. From 1995 to 2017, the Shiv Sena and BJP ran the BMC together. In 2017, the two parties fought civic elections separately; the Shiv Sena got 84 seats and BJP 82 in the 228-member civic body. The Shiv Sena got the Mayor’s post and that of the Standing Committee Chairman. The term of this body ended in February 2022, but fresh elections could not take place because of court cases pending in the Supreme Court over the ward delimitation issues. In April 2025, the court asked the State government to hold the elections “in four months”.
Also Read | Sabarmati Riverfront project’s neoliberal dream leaves thousands displaced and abandoned
The Shiv Sena’s rise in Maharashtra started after it won the cash-rich BMC in 1995. Mumbai is the party’s founding place and the soul of its organisation. At present, however, the party is going through one of its worst phases. The majority of its MLAs are with Eknath Shinde following the 2022 split. The Shinde faction is supported by the mighty BJP, which wants to win the BMC election. The Uddhav Thackeray faction won just 20 seats in the Assembly elections held in November 2024. Significantly, however, 10 of those 20 seats are in Mumbai, showing that Uddhav still has a base in Mumbai. That is why it is important for the BJP to weaken the Uddhav faction of the Sena.
Given this context, the measures taken by the EOW and ED are widely seen as political moves aimed at exerting pressure on the Thackeray family and their supporters on the ground. Cleaning the Mithi is a sensitive issue for Mumbaikars, and the failure to do so, even after two decades, is viewed as clear evidence of entrenched corruption within the BMC. The ED searches at the residence of Morea have handed the BJP and the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) a political opportunity—framing the action less as an anti-corruption effort and more as a move in the battle for control over the BMC.
