Addressing the issue of nullah desilting that has been plaguing the BMC for a week now, the administration has shifted the onus of ensuring the city does not flood, to citizens.
Addressing the issue of nullah desilting that has been plaguing the BMC for a week now, the administration has shifted the onus of ensuring the city does not flood, to citizens. Through an official statement issued by the additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh on Friday, the administration said even though it completes desilting work on nullahs, the residents of the areas throw garbage in the nullahs again, and they get dirty within weeks if left unattended. The BMC has also said there is no mechanism to keep a check on this, and the only way is to clean the nullahs again.
Mr Deshmukh said, “There have been accusations that the administration does not work. It is not possible for the civic body to keep vigilance in the areas 24X7. We are urging the citizens to cooperate and not dirty the nullahs.”
Meanwhile, the BMC has assured that flooding spots have been brought down to 40 this year, as opposed to 55 last year, by installing extra pumps at these locations. It claims Hindmata will not flood this year, as the Britannia pumping station will be operational this monsoon. It has also identified only three chronic flooding spots in the city, including Hindmata Cinema, Nair Hospital gate at Mumbai Central, and road number 24 at Sion, and it will take exclusive measures for these areas.
As a precautionary measure against any possible scams in desilting works, the civic body has split the responsibility of overseeing the work between the Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) and the Vigilance Department this year. The SWMD will now be responsible only for the dumping of waste at nine dumping spots already identified by the BMC.
