Mumbai : The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has claimed it has completed more than 90% of the task of desilting the city’s nullahs and trimming trees.
Every year, BMC has to clean up major nullahs across city, totalling 2.5 lakh metres in length. Its target is to remove over 2 lakh metric tonnes of silt from these. Besides, it has to desilt about 20 km of Mithi river, crucial for the prevention of flooding. “Every vehicle carrying silt is being tracked, and there are computerised weighing machines and slips. We have improved the system,” said a senior BMC official.
Of the 88,000 trees that required trimming, only about 3,000 remained to be trimmed as on May 31 and the corporation is optimistic that the remaining will be done on or before June 2. Of the 791 dead trees that were identified by it, only about 20 are yet to be uprooted. “We have issued fresh notices to 4,000 private properties that need to trim trees in their premises. We appeal to them to get this done immediately,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kishore Kshirsagar.
This year, 1,106 roadworks are being undertaken across the city, of which the BMC has managed to complete only about 588 (reconstruction and repairs). The rest will be completed after the monsoon. said that as per the Solapur municipal chief’s report, the land where the minister’s bungalow stands was reserved for a fire brigade station.