8230;And Ulhasnagar still stinks

Ulhasnagar continues to be snowed under mountains of garbage, the commissioner still reels off classic bureaucratic spiel and now, even private contractors refuse to scrape the muck piled high on almost every street.

The court8217;s directive was given during the hearing of a public interest petition filed in January, which has urged the court to put a stop to 8220;the state of virtualnon-governance8221; of the township.

However, Kale told Express Newsline: 8220;We have taken definite steps but garbage is a recurring problem and it will have to be dealt with on an ongoing basis. We have given special charge to all the deputy municipal commissioners who will be responsible area-wise.8221;

But his assurances have done nothing to cleanse the township. For instance, the entire stretch from Punjabi Colony to the Century Rayon Colony has remained untouched like the approach road to Birla temple in Camp 1, where the road doubles for a sewerage outlet. Also, the area surrounding the ESIS Hospital is equally filthy while the only large maidan here 8211; Gol Maidan 8211; is punctuated with garbage dumps along its periphery.

Still, the commissioner insists, the corporation is in the process of hiring temporary help to undertake surface cleaning. According to him, 60 per cent of the work has already been completed. Naik, however, is more forthcoming. 8220;We have been able to clean only 30 per cent of thegarbage,8221; she claims, adding that the corporation is afflicted by a manpower shortage.

She says the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation UMC had approached private contractors who undertake nullah desilting work for the Thane Municipal Corporation and the Bhiwandi-Nizampura Municipal Council but none had agreed. 8220;Two contractors were approached in Thane and one in Bhiwandi. But they said it was impossible,8221; Naik reveals.

However, the UMC finally coaxed M/s Konark Infrastructure Private Ltd to accept a contract to desilt nullahs following its success in privatising octroi collection in Bhiwandi. But that too was shortlived. Opposition parties in the UMC raised a storm during the March 19 General Body meeting, pointing out that tenders had not been floated for the Rs 71 lakh contract. They also said they had not been taken into confidence.

The furore subsequently forced Konark to do a rethink, with the company demanding dues for work already completed. 8220;We are demanding Rs 10 lakh for work undertakenand are planning to wind up our operation to desilt nullahs,8221; the firm8217;s Director Mukesh Kimtani told Express Newsline. Till then, desilting had begun in Camp 2 and Camp 4 areas.

Defending the decision not to float tenders, Kale says: 8220;I hired the firm8217;s services under the special powers vested in me for emergencies, though he could not explain why routine sanitation work had turned into an emergency.

During the March 11 hearing, the court had also asked S S Tinaikar and D M Sukhtankar 8211; former commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation 8211; to visit Ulhasnagar and offer their suggestions to Kale. While the UMC Commissioner says he has not been specifically asked to approach the two former commissioners, Tinaikar told Express Newsline that no one had contacted him.