Mumbai: And, another year of overflowing nullahs?

A nullah in Kurla being desilted

The annual desilting dilemma has begun for Mumbaikars - will BMC completely desilt nullahs before the monsoon or not? The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cleaned 20 per cent of the city and suburbs' nullahs in the past 28 days. Its target is to remove 9.58 lakh metric tonnes of silt by May 31. Civic activists have demanded the desilting of nullahs be speeded up, but like every year, officials claim they are on schedule.

The desilting work started on March 16. The BMC will spend a total of Rs 285 crore on the desilting of nullahs and the Mithi River for two years. Of this, Rs 109 crore will be spent on major nullahs, Rs 90 crore on minor nullahs, and Rs 88 crore on Mithi River desilting. At present a total of 547 workers and officials are working on desilting. This work is going on with the help of 123 machines.

The Mithi River being cleaned ahead of the monsoon in 2022

Till Wednesday BMC removed 2.43 lakh metric tonnes of silt from nullahs. "The work of desilting is as per schedule. There is no delay. We will desilt all nullahs till May end as we will speed up work then,"" said a BMC official.

Also Read: Mumbai: BMC to spend Rs 136 cr on pre-monsoon road repairs

The BMC has to remove another 2.16 lakh metric tonnes of silt from the Mithi River. Till Wednesday 36,533 metric tonnes of silt was removed from the river.

The BMC will spend Rs 109 crore on desilting major nullahs. Pic/Shadab Khan

Civic activist Anil Galgali said the BMC should increase the speed of desilting as every year desilting work continues till the first week of June. "The BMC should use more machinery for the desilting of the Mithi River," he said.

Sanjay Gurav, another activist said, "The BMC should speed up desilting work. Officials should also make sure contractors are working properly, as there was a scam in desilting work in the past."

In 2015, a scam was exposed in the desilting of nullahs. Contractors produced fake challans and fake receipts of work done. Vehicles used to transport silt were light motor vehicles instead of dumpers. Action was taken against 13 civic engineers and employees. The action included demotion, termination of service, and fine. BMC also blacklisted 32 contractors who were responsible for the R150 crore scam.

123
No. of machines being used for desilting work