The BMC has cleared 1.9 lakh tonnes of silt so far.(File)Monsoon just weeks away, the BMC on Saturday admitted that only 35 per cent of work on desilting of nullahs in the city have been completed so far.
The BMC undertakes cleaning of nullahs in preparation for the monsoon every year. But with just 35 per cent of the work completed so far and the monsoon not far away, the civic body is now faced with the uphill task of finishing the rest of desilting work, about 65 per cent, by the end of May.
Up to 5.4 lakh tonnes of silt needs to be removed from nullahs across the city before the monsoon. The BMC has cleared 1.9 lakh tonnes of silt so far.
Figures released by the civic body show that until April 30, major nullahs, including the Mithi river, were cleaned up to 44.4 per cent. However, the cleaning of minor nullahs has been sluggish with only 20.33 per cent work completed. According to the civic body, before the monsoon, 90,426 tonnes of silt is to be removed from the Mithi river. Until April 30, 44,846 tonnes of silt was removed.
On Saturday, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta reviewed the pre-monsoon nullah desilting work across the city. He ordered officials from the Storm Water Drain (SWD) department to speed up work. Also, civic officials were asked to take necessary measures to reduce flooding during the monsoon.
Recently, city BJP chief Ashish Shelar had slammed the civic body for its slow progress in cleaning nullahs and alleged that the BMC’s negligence appears to be helping private contractors, who were getting away without doing their work. Shelar, after visiting nullah-cleaning sites in the western suburbs, alleged civic officials were shirking cleaning work in the name of the election code of conduct.
A senior official from the SWD department said, “The slow pace of cleaning of minor nullahs is worrisome. We have only finished 20 per cent work. These nullahs are important as they take rainwater to the major drains, from where it enters the sea. If minor drains are not cleaned properly then flooding on city streets will increase. Usually, the monsoon starts from the first week of June so we have a maximum three weeks because after removing the silt from nullahs, we have to keep it near the drains for a week before transporting it to dumping sites so that it gets dry. The focus will be more on finishing as much work as possible before the monsoon.”
The civic body is facing flak from people as well as corporators from across parties, who have alleged that nullah cleaning was being carried out at a snail’s pace.
The BMC has a drain network of over 2,900-km across the city.
At Saturday’s meeting, Mehta also asked officials to take measures necessary for trimming of trees, removing dead and dangerous trees, eviction from dilapidated buildings, landslides, dengue and malaria.
Metro work
The BMC has asked the MMRDA to make sure during Metro construction work, debris or silt doesn’t enter the civic body’s drains. Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta has asked Additional Municipal Commissioner Pravin Darade to have a co-ordination meeting with the MMRDA. Also, ward officials have been asked to visit Metro sites to check whether debris or silt is properly disposed of or not. In 2017, the civic body had blamed ongoing Metro works for flooding at several spots during the monsoon.
