Mumbai, Mar 26 (IANS): Under fire from the water-starved metropolis over frequent bursting of water pipelines, Mumbai's civic body Friday announced that all the old, damaged and weak water pipelines will be replaced with new ones within a period of two years.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner S. Kshatriya told mediapersons here that no permission would be given for digging of roads for any infrastructure development projects from April 15 to prevent pipelines from getting breached or burst.

The civic body will also bar all utilities and other agencies from digging up pavements to prevent smaller pipelines from being damaged or broken up, Kshatriya said.

He added that the 43-km-long Tansa main pipeline, coming from Tansa Lake to Mumbai via Thane, would also be replaced at a cost of around Rs.12 billion by May 2013.

The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled BMC has taken the steps after nearly 25 major instances of bursting of water pipelines in different parts of Mumbai and Thane, along with other places.

Two major pipelines, each of 72 inches diameter, burst Thursday and a 54-inch pipeline burst in Santacruz suburb of north-west Mumbai Friday morning.

The result was millions of gallons of precious drinking water flowing into the drains even as a vast majority of Mumbaikars have been reeling under 15-35 percent water cuts over the past few months.

The water cuts were necessitated since January in view of a deficient monsoon over the city - rainfall recorded was at least 25 percent less than normal in 2009 - though Mumbai falls in the rain-abundant coastal Konkan region of west Maharashtra.