Pre-monsoon nullah cleaning: Mumbai residents raise a stink over filth piling up on roadsides

Residents say Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers leave garbage after cleaning exercises

Lawyer Vivekanand Gupta, a resident of Sahar Road in Andheri has alleged that nullah cleaning and desilting exercise was an eyewash and none of the senior BMC officials inspect the work after awarding the contract.

Residents of the city’s western suburbs have raised a stink over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) nullah cleaning exercise, claiming that workers were leaving filth on roadsides across the city. Residents have complained that the garbage remains unattended for more than a week.

The desilting and cleaning of stormwater drains (nullahs) is carried out as part of the pre-monsoon preparations. However, residents claim that this year after cleaning the nullahs, the filth was left on the sides of the roads and was spilling over the footpaths. Small heaps of garbage were seen at every half a kilometre on the entire stretch of road between Borivali and Dahisar West, on S V Road and Dahisar East, said a resident. “When we asked the workers about when it will be cleared, we were told in a day or two… It’s since been over a week,” said Deepshikha S, a resident of Dahisar Mamta Colony near Dahisar Subway.

Some of the residents had met the assistant municipal commissioner of R-north ward (Dahisar and Borivali) over the issue. However, a resident said the filth was yet to be cleared. Besides Dahisar and Borivali, other parts of the city, too, had been facing the same issue. “In Andheri, it is seen near Andheri Kurla Road, Chakala, Sahar Road in Andheri (East), along with many areas in Andheri west. This problem is being faced across the city,” said lawyer Vivekanand Gupta, a resident of Sahar Road in Andheri.

Gupta has alleged that nullah cleaning and desilting exercise was an eyewash and none of the senior BMC officials inspect the work after awarding the contract. “As there is no inspection, contractors work in their own way. The way they work inconveniences residents and pedestrians. The filth lying on the road for weeks leads to spreading of flies and other insects,”
he added.

Corporators claimed that lack of coordination between the cleaners and garbage collectors has led to the problem. “As per rules, the filth has to be kept till it dries up, only then the workers collect and transport it. However, if the filth is lying on the roads for more than a week, it must be due to communication gaps between those cleaning and collecting it. I will talk to the ward officer…,” said Rajul Patel, a Shiv Sena corporator from Andheri.

Jagdish Ojha, BJP corporator from Dahisar, said, “It is true that the filth has been lying on the roads for the last one week in Dahisar and Borivali. Is this how we are preparing for the monsoon? When vehicles pass from the roads, half the filth comes on the road while remaining falls into the drains again. Nobody inspects the cleaning exercises, and pass the buck when the drains get flooded during monsoon.”

A senior official from the stormwater department said, “The filth has to be cleared in a day or two, or as soon as it dries up. However, if it is lying in some areas for more than a week, we will check with the officials of the respective wards.”

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