A hearing on a plea by the Mumbai civic body turned into a blunt assessment of the civic sense of citizens on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), with the Bombay High Court flagging the people’s “uncanny knack” for land grab and dumping of waste in drains, which it said causes waterlogging in monsoon.

Our habit is to rob our own motherland, the High Court said as it pointed to encroachment of footpaths, rendering them inaccessible for pedestrians.

Citizens should stop blaming the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) alone for monsoon waterlogging, a Bench of acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad said, noting that encroachments and clogged drains are “our own creation” and flooding is obvious during monsoon.

“We have an uncanny knack for grabbing lands. We put all the dirt and material inside, and we block the gutters. One small spell of rain blocks the roads in Mumbai. It’s our own creation,” the bench said.

Stop blaming the civic body, the Bench said, stressing that despite being provided with drainage lines and footpaths, citizens lack civic sense and clog everything.

“Footpaths are encroached upon by illegal stalls. You can’t walk. What will the corporation do? Our habit is to rob our own motherland. So we grab land, and then we put up our shops and do this illegally,” the court remarked.

The Bench was hearing a plea filed by the BMC seeking a direction to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to remove encroachments from its land required for a road-widening project on the Sion-Trombay road.

On Tuesday (July 7, 2026), senior advocate Milind Sathe, representing the BMC, stated that the civic body had cleared encroachments for the existing 30-foot-wide road, for which nearly 192 trees were also felled.

He, however, said that the remaining land required to widen the road to 50 feet was with DAE, which oversees the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), situated in the vicinity of the road concerned.

Mr. Sathe added that if BARC wanted a 50-foot-wide road, the civic body was ready to make it; however, it should provide encroachment-free land between 30 and 50 feet.

Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) railway station in Kurla experienced waterlogging on Saturday (July 4, 2026). Meanwhile, rains continued to lash Mumbai, Thane and Pune on Sunday (July 5, 2026) morning.  

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that there is no immediate relief from the rain. It placed Mumbai and Thane under red alert and the Konkan region and Pune under orange alert in its notification at 7 p.m. on July 4, 2026.

Konkan region and Pune district’s ghat areas are expected to experience very heavy and persistent rainfall, with a risk of minor landslides, while Pune is under a Yellow alert.

Monsoon tracker July 5 LIVE

The State Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan has urged citizens not to step out of house if not urgent. He said that the rescue teams have been deployed to aid the public affected by heavy rains, and the traffic is being cleared off the roads.

“More than 200mm of rain has occurred in 12 hours, which is very heavy rain – I mean, for Mumbai, it is very heavy rain. I would request all tourists and those going out for sightseeing. NDRF and SDRF teams have been deployed. Our teams are stationed near manholes. Traffic is being cleared. People are going out, sitting near the high tide. Most accidents happen because of selfies. Places with tourism witness high casualties. Only step out of the house if there is urgent work,” 

There have been multiple incidents of accidents and injuries owing to the rains.

The intense monsoon showers had already triggered widespread civic chaos and traffic disruptions across the city, along with a tragic casualty in the suburbs. The earlier spell of heavy rain caused multiple trees to fall across the western suburbs, blocking several key roads. The rain has also had a tragic cost this monsoon season. An 11-year-old student died, and several others were hurt when a tree fell on a school bus in Chembur during an earlier spell of heavy rain and strong winds. Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde also urged citizens loitering along the seafront in the Worli area, who were ignoring the instructions and warnings issued by the Corporation and the police, to leave the area, as they were spotted wandering by the seaside and sitting on parapets here and there.

 

Just days after a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) worker fell into a manhole, another man lost his life after falling into another manhole in the city on Thursday (July 2, 2026). Maintenance work was in progress on Khairani Road near Sanman Hotel in Mumbai’s Chandivali area where the incident occured.

The man, identified as 55-year-old Aslam Esaf Shaikh, was taken to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, where the doctors declared him brought dead. BMC Ritu Tawde has announced a financial assistance of ₹10 lakh on behalf of the corporation to the family of the deceased.

According to the BMC official, the firemen rescued the person by ventilating the sewer line using an exhaust blower and use rescue van, a tripod and a rope ladder.

Monsoon tracker LIVE

Four officers suspended

Following the latest incident involving a manhole, BMC Commissioner Ashwini Bhide suspended four officers till the investigation report is submitted. Assistant Commissioner of ‘L’ ward Dhanaji Harlekar, Assistant/Secondary Engineer (Maintenance, L Division) Deepak Chougule, Junior Engineer (Maintenance, L Ward) Abhijit Chougule, and Assistant Engineer (Sewerage Operations) Uttam Patil were suspended on Thursday (July 2, 2026). 

Ms. Bhide also ordered to blacklist the contractor concerned for “negligence in work regarding safety norms”. “While the process of installing safety net was going on, no precaution was taken. The people standing near the manhole tried to stop him by shouting but by that time the deceased lost his balance and fell into the ‘manhole’,” said Ms. Bhide.

Committee formed

A high-level inquiry has been constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) to conduct a investigation into the incident and to suggest measures to prevent such incidents. The committee includes Deputy Commissioner (General Administration), Deputy Commissioner (Zone 7), Deputy Commissioner (Infrastructure). The inquiry committee has been ordered to submit a report within seven days.

BMC has instructed all the ward officers to install barricades on all four sides while carrying out the work of the manhole. A 100% inspection of the manholes in the BMC area should be carried out in the next eight days, the order said.

Lives’ at risk during Mumbai rains

In the last 24 hours, several areas in Mumbai have received 200 mm of rainfall, causing severe waterlogging and traffic disruptions. As the monsoon hit Mumbai from the last week of June, the casualties in Mumbai have become evident with Shaikh’s death being the third incident.

On Tuesday, an 11-year-old student died after a tree fell onto a school bus in Chembur, while a 51-year-old man was killed in the Walkeshwar area after a portion of a third-floor balcony collapsed. A week ago BMC worker accompanying BMC Mayor Ritu Tawde during an inspection of waterlogged areas at Gandhi Market, fell into a manhole.

Installing manhole nets is part of annual pre-monsoon preparations in Mumbai. However, the waterlogging or flooded roads often make them invisible, putting pedestrians or motorists’ lives at risk.