584 km roads in 24 wards cleaned daily; BMC aims at 1,000 km from December 1

Seeking to prevent the dust from accelerating the rising air pollution levels, the civic body has been carrying out cleaning of 60 feet-wide roads as well as busy footpaths. Most of the 548 kilometres of road being washed daily falls in G/north ward comprising Dadar and Dharavi pockets, where 60.6 km of streets have been washed, followed by 28.15 km of roads at K/East Ward (Andheri East amongst others) and 24.42 km at R/North (Dahisar).

“At present, around 584 km of roads are being washed in Mumbai metropolis, including the Western Expressway, Eastern Expressway, Eastern Freeway, Swami Vivekananda Marg, Bandra to Santacruz West link road and Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, etc.,” read a statement by the civic body released Monday.

BMC has pressed water tankers, sludge dewatering machines, firex tankers, micro water sprayers as well as trained manpower to clean the roads. While 121 tankers are currently deployed for cleaning work, the CM has directed the BMC to deploy 1,000 rented water tankers ferrying recycled or borewell water to enhance the washing of roads in the upcoming days.

Ensuring that no drinking water is wasted, water for the cleaning is being procured through recycling and local sources.

To bolster vigilance, BMC is also planning to push 1,200 clean-up marshals across the city from December 1. Clean up marshals are troops appointed by BMC that penalise the public for littering, garbage burning and illegal dumping of waste. These marshals impose penalties as specified under BMC’s Solid Waste Mamangement by-laws 2006.

CM Eknath Shinde is likely to visit some areas in the city this week to check the ongoing measures implemented to curb poor AQI level in Mumbai.