Ahead of monsoon: Civic body depts pass the buck on removing garbage from nullahs
The SWD department is responsible for carrying out pre- and post-monsoon desilting of drains across the city.
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Despite desilting drains, they get choked due to floating materials and garbage, say BMC officials. (Express Photo) The Storm Water Drain (SWD) department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has written a letter to the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department, urging it to appoint a third-party contractor to remove floating garbage that is being dumped into drains and water bodies of Mumbai throughout the year.
The SWD department is responsible for carrying out pre- and post-monsoon desilting of drains across the city.
As a preventive measure of waterlogging during monsoon, BMC desilts — removal of sediments that get accumulated in the bed of waterbodies — all drains and rivers across Mumbai to ensure an improved water flow.
BMC officials, however, said that despite completing the desilting work, drains get choked due to floating materials, leading to overflowing of water during rainfall.
On May 24, BMC had claimed that it has achieved its 100 per cent pre-monsoon desilting target — a week before the deadline. In a circular issued on May 30, the BMC’s SWD department, however, stated that as drains get covered with solid waste, the civic body’s issue gets maligned since it has been interpreted that the floating waste is result of incomplete desilting of drains.
“Technically, desilting is not about clearing floating materials from nullahs, but clearing silt along with floating materials in water bodies at that time. Pictures of floating materials on drains become viral very quickly, feeding a wrong image of BMC among the people,” reads the SWD department’s letter. “To avoid such defamation, a separate agency — under the execution of the SWM department — could be appointed to clear floating garbage and other materials throughout the year. Also, the SWM department can initiate preventive measures to refrain people from dumping garbage in drains — either by fining them or by running incentive campaigns that would motivate them and raise awareness among the people.”
Meanwhile, officials from the SWM department said that the proposal will be reviewed by the head of department. “A similar proposal like this had come to us earlier, but the department heads did not approve it because the SWD department is only responsible for removing garbage from inside the nullahs. Our job is to collect garbage from households, establishments, and bins installed at public spaces,” said an official from the SWD department. “However, the proposal will be reviewed and a call will be taken. Also, involving multiple agencies will create accountability.”
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