India, Aug. 13 -- In a major revision of its earlier plans, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has reduced the number of trees to be cut for the construction of three alternative water tanks at Malabar Hill from an initial 400 to 50. These alternative tanks are crucial components of efforts to prevent disruption in water supply to south Mumbai while the 138-year-old Malabar Hill reservoir is repaired.

According to officials in the BMC's waterworks department, the initial plan was to build a single alternative tank with a capacity of 52 million litres per day (MLD)-a key recommendation in a technical report submitted by the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. Now, the BMC has proposed to build smaller tanks at three separate...