• The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has arrested a 49-year-old contractor for his alleged role in the multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam, which has caused losses exceeding ₹65 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
• The case highlights serious irregularities in flood-mitigation projects meant to safeguard Mumbai from disasters similar to the 2005 deluge, when record rainfall submerged large parts of the city.
• The Mithi River, one of Mumbai’s four rivers, originates from the overflow of Vihar Lake and also receives inflows from Powai Lake.
• Flowing through some of the city’s busiest residential, industrial, and commercial areas—including Powai, Saki Naka, Kurla, Kalina, Vakola, Bandra Kurla Complex, Dharavi, and Mahim—it travels 18 km before meeting the Arabian Sea at Mahim Creek.
• Once a narrow seasonal stream averaging just 5 metres in width in its upper stretches, the river was widened to 25 metres in the middle reaches and up to 70 metres near its mouth after the catastrophic 26 July 2005 floods, when 944 mm of rainfall in 24 hours crippled Mumbai.
• Despite these efforts, the river remains heavily polluted and encroached, serving as both a stormwater drain and an outlet for untreated sewage and industrial waste.
• Experts argue that corruption and negligence in desilting contracts undermine Mumbai’s resilience against monsoon flooding, raising public concerns over urban governance and environmental safety.
• Officials stated that further arrests are likely as investigations progress, while activists have renewed demands for a comprehensive river restoration plan to transform the Mithi from a polluted nullah into an ecologically sustainable waterway.