MUMBAI, May 22 -- With pre-monsoon showers already creating chaos, Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) authorities are working hard to accelerate all pre-monsoon works. Both have completed 70-75% of nullah cleaning and removal of muck and debris along the CSMT-Kasara/Khopoli/Panvel and Churchgate-Dahanu routes. However, their efforts are being nullified by illegal slum dwellers on railway land, who continue to dump garbage and muck along the rail lines. On Wednesday, a high-level pre-monsoon meet was held at which, sources said, various aspects of the ongoing works and their deficiencies were discussed sans any directives to improve the overall situation. Works to clean the drainage lines, removal of muck and silt from gutters and nullahs passing under the railway lines have been ongoing since March. Yet, rail officials said, they were unable to do much to stop slum dwellers from dumping garbage next to the tracks. On Central Railway, areas near Sion, Kurla, GTB Nagar, Wadala, Chunabhatti, Govandi and Mankhurd are besieged by this problem as are Mahim, Bandra, Malad and Kandivali on Western Railway. "This is not the garbage and silt that has been removed by us," said a senior CR official of the piles lying around. "It's the garbage that the slum dwellers staying along the tracks throw." Officials agreed that in case of heavy downpours, there was a high chance of the garbage and muck flowing back on the tracks. Their mild response to the situation is awareness campaigns in nearby slum areas. Apart from this, to prevent water from accumulating on the tracks, micro-tunnelling work is nearing completion at Sion-Kurla, Vikhroli-Ghatkopar, and Sandhurst Road. Additionally, to address waterlogging issues on the Harbour line, track levels have been raised between Kurla and Chunabhatti while WR authorities have raised the height of tracks near Grant Road, Goregaon, Malad, and Matunga stations. WR authorities have also begun installing high-powered pumps next to rail tracks prone to water logging, desilted 58 drains, cleared 36 floodgates and begun installing 104 pumps. CR authorities have identified 33 sensitive locations, where 112 pumps have been planned. In addition, the BMC is setting up pumping stations in four flood-prone zones, and four floodgates will also be created to prevent water accumulation on railway tracks. WR is using drones and floating cameras for drain inspection....