The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon be cleaning not just the citys beaches but also their shorelines. While the BMC regularly cleans up the citys beaches,their extended shorelines are left dirty as the garbage which flows towards those places is not cleaned by any agency. But as per a new plan,BMC will clean the shorelines from Colaba to Tardeo and Haji Ali to Worli village from next year. We are going to invite tenders for the same under which these shorelines will be cleaned on a regular basis from next year, said B P Patil Chief Engineer (Solid Waste Management). While we were regularly cleaning the beaches,there are various inaccessible places along the coastlines which need to be cleaned, said Patil. The civic administration has identified about 20 spots including Phule Nagar,Badhvar Nagar,Jamshed Bandar,Priyadarshini Park,Breach Candy,Banganga,Haji Ali,Mahalaxmi Temple and Worli Sea face for the clean-up drive. The proposal was mooted following a PIL filed in the court by residents of Gulistan Housing Society near Mahalaxmi Temple. There are residential colonies,slum housing or shops and hawkers zones and even public open spaces along shorelines and one needs to keep it clean, said Patil. As a pilot project,the civic administration has started cleaning the shorelines along the Chimbai Beach in Bandra,he added. The beach extends from St Andrews Church graveyard to Joggers Park in Bandra (W) and has a very untidy shoreline. While the Chimbai Beach is now being cleaned up daily,officials said the clean-up of shorelines will be done at least thrice a week. The BMC will appoint an agency on a two-year contract,the officials said. These operations will need at least 20-30 additional workers, said a senior official. As manpower has been a challenge for the department,the effort will be to clean up crowded areas more frequently. The BMC collects at least 50 metric tonnes of garbage per day on an average from the citys beaches. But it is still not clear what will happen to shorelines of beaches in the suburbs.
