Malabar Hill tank proposal is tanked

There is no sword dangling over Mumbai's iconic Hanging Gardens after all, for now.

Malabar Hill residents had much to cheer about on Friday, after it was announced that the proposal to construct a new tank for the 136-year-old Malabar Hill Reservoir (MHR), would be scrapped by the BMC.

The announcement was made by Guardian Minister (suburban) Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who further informed that the civic body could repair the existing reservoir, thus saving 389 trees on the plot that had been earmarked for the construction of a new tank.

Area residents had raised their voice in unison against the proposed demolition of the iconic Hanging Garden for the project. The new water tank, with a capacity of 91 million litres per day, would have come up after hacking several fully grown trees. It would have been used to supply water to south Mumbai during the reconstruction of the five compartments of the existing reservoir.