The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned three dam projects Gargai, Pinjal and Daman Ganga interlink to meet Mumbai’s increasing water demand.

At present, Mumbai gets water from five dams -- Vihar, Tulsi, Bhatsa, middle Vaitarna and upper Vaitarna.

The Gargai and Pinjal projects will be in Palghar district, while Daman Ganga project will be situated partially in Nashik and partially in Palghar.

The above projects will increase the capacity of water supply and around 4.4 million ltr from Gargai dam, 8.65 million ltr from Pinjal and 1,586 million ltr from Daman Ganga will be distributed.

The Daman Ganga-Pinjal river link project will be executed by the Maharashtra government along with Gujarat.

An amount of Rs 54 crore will be towards rehabilitation of villagers who will be affected by the Gargai project, while Rs 246 crore will be spent for the other projects.

The estimated cost for developing the Gargai project will be Rs 1,820 crore and for Daman Ganga the estimate is Rs 2,750 crore.

Apart from this, BMC requires clearance from the departments of forest, wildlife, environment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) for construction, rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected villagers. The dams will submerge surrounding areas, including 750 ha of the Tansa wildlife sanctuary.

A consolidated plan has been submitted to the Palghar collector for approval.

The Gargai project is expected to start in FY20. However, DPR for the Pinjal dam project is not yet conducted.