Nullah desiltation will be completed in 10 days: BMC

“They had not installed the required machinery on the spot and the work of cleaning the nullahs has not been as per schedule,” said chief engineer V L Joshi. However,he added that after fining the contractors,there has been an improvement in the speed of work and it will be completed in the next 10 days.

The civic administration will be spending Rs 104 crore — up from around Rs 72 crore — for the desilting of major and minor nullahs in Mumbai till 2011. Corporators are already complaining that although a huge amount of funds is being spent on de-silting,the work is not up to the mark.

Additional municipal commissioner,R A Rajeev said that despite work on various nullahs in the city being executed at different speeds,there is no need to worry. “Corporators have been inspecting the nullahs and have expressed their opinion on the work seen on the spot. We are confident that the work will be completed in the coming days,” he said.

Officials also added that nullah de-silting should not be judged on the floating material seen. “De-silting is the main work,however many people confuse the nullah cleaning work with non-clearing of floating material like polythene and thermocol. The nullah water flows beneath this material and there is no need to worry,” a senior civic official said.