BMC’s nullah cleaning raises a stink across city

Stuck indoors due to lockdown owing to coronavirus outbreak, residents across the city have raised a stink over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) nullah cleaning exercise, claiming that workers have left filth on roadsides across the city. Residents have complained that the garbage has been left unattended for more than a week.

BMC officials have, however, said that most of their staff are busy on coronavirus related duty hence the nullah cleaning exercise is being carried out unsupervised at many places.

The desilting and cleaning of stormwater drains (nullahs) are 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 SV 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 more than a week. The heap of filth is drying up and as and when breeze flows.. so does the stink," said Deepshikha Singh, a resident of Save Nagar, Dahisar East.

Some of the residents even called up the R-north ward (Dahisar and Borivali) office over the issue. However, a resident said the filth is yet to be cleared. Besides Dahisar and Borivali, other parts of the city, too, had been facing the same issue.

On April 13, The Free Press Journal had reported on how workers in M (West) ward (Chembur and Deonar) had left filth unattended on the sides of the road.

“In Andheri, it is seen near Marol, 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 Dr Ananya Das, resident of Marol.

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. We will speak to the ward officers,” said Rajul Patel, a Shiv Sena corporator from Andheri.