Wanted: A pied piper for Mumbai

Mumbaikars living in the suburbs will have to endure the menace of street rats for a while longer as the BMC has received only 24 applications in response to an advertisement inviting agencies to sign up for hiring scavengers to kill street rats.

Noticing a shortage of rat killers in the suburbs, the BMC’s health department had, last month, advertised inviting applications for agencies that provide these employees. However, the civic body has received only 24 applications for this profile in the past month.

An official from the health department said, “We will now modify some terms of the contract and reopen it. We need at least one agency to come forward per ward, even though ideally we would have wanted three.” From among the applications, wards C, D, H East, H West, K East, K West, P North, R Central, S ward and T ward have not received any bidders. These wards correspond to areas of Marine Lines and Grant Road in the city and Santacruz, Bandra West, Andheri, Malad, Borivali west, Bhandup and Mulund in Mumbai’s suburbs.

The official said, “We already have enough agencies hiring rat killers for the city area, but we are falling short of agencies in the suburbs. Generally speaking, suburbs need more rat killers as they have large chunks of open spaces.”

The official said the BMC requires workers to kill between 100 to 200 rats per night, depending on the areas they work in. It is immaterial how many rat killers are hired by the agency for this purpose. Presently, each rat killer is paid '5,000 per month for killing 30 rats per night. If the individual fails to kill 30 rats, the corresponding money is deducted from his salary.

BMC sources have attributed the low response to the advertisement to these terms of the contract. A senior civic official said, “There is a possibility this is unattractive for workers. We are seeking to renew the contract and invite applications again by end of the coming week.”