Over last two weeks, BMC removed 67 truckloads of waste from city’s drains

According to civic authorities, all the roads, footpaths, marketplaces, public parking lots and walkways will be cleaned.

By: Express News Service

Mumbai | Updated: October 14, 2025 09:20 PM IST

3 min read

According to civic authorities, the issue of floating waste is a key concern as waste items, including plastics, block the drains and water flow in the canals, rivers. (Source: File)

In a special cleaning drive launched by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – nearly 124.55 metric tonnes (MT) of floating waste — equivalent to 67 truck loads — was removed from the drains and water bodies of Mumbai over the last two weeks. In a first of its kind initiative, the drive was initiated on September 29 and concluded on October 13.

According to civic authorities, the issue of floating waste is a key concern as waste items, including plastics, block the drains and water flow in the canals, rivers. This leads to further inundation during the monsoon season. The authorities stated that even though desilting is carried out every year, no dedicated drive for removing floating waste was enforced by BMC till now.

“This drive will be ongoing to ensure there is minimum or no floating waste in the ponds and drains during monsoon. This was the first phase that was carried out at the brink of monsoon withdrawal. From early next year this drive will be carried out in a much more systematic manner to ensure that the floating waste doesn’t choke the drains during monsoon,” said a civic official.

According to BMC data, nearly 479 vehicles such as mechanised cranes were deployed by the authorities to clear the water from solid waste, along with 4,974 workers.

This drive was carried out between 11 am and 1 pm everyday. The authorities said that once they have better systematic implementation, drives could be carried out all day.

Meanwhile, ahead of Diwali, the BMC is also set to carry out a weeklong cleaning drive to ensure the roads and public spaces are free of garbage for the festive week ahead.

According to civic authorities, all the roads, footpaths, marketplaces, public parking lots and walkways will be cleaned. As part of the drive the civic authorities will be washing the premises, segregation of the solid waste and transporting them to the disposal facilities.

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The overall initiative is part of BMC’s Clean Mumbai campaign which was announced by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde (then chief minister) last year. As part of this campaign, the civic body has taken up systemic cleaning of prominent places in Mumbai. As part of this drive, popular spots like Siddhi Vinayak temple, Mumba Devi and Haji Ali dargah were shortlisted by the authorities.

Earlier this year, the BMC carried out a similar drive in some of the prominent maidaans and grounds in Mumbai. Prior to that, the authorities had also carried out a cleaning drive at some of the prominent religious places in Mumbai.

For this special campaign, the BMC is set to deploy more than 800 sanitation workers, and 60 SWM collection vehicles everyday.

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