12 March,2023 07:10 AM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
A JCB machine seen carrying out desilting work at a nullah near 60 Feet Road, Dharavi, in May last year. Pic/Satej Shinde
After the successful implementation of a dashboard to track nullah-cleaning work last year, the BMC will start a similar dashboard this year as well. Nullah-cleaning is one of the most crucial monsoon preparation tasks in the city. While last year, pre-monsoon desilting work began in April, this time around, the BMC started it early to complete it before the May 31 deadline.
In 2022, the BMC also launched a dashboard to monitor the progress of nullah-cleaning following allegations that no work was being done. "There will be a dashboard this year too," said P Velarasu, additional commissioner of the BMC. "Apart from a couple of work orders, all other work orders have already been issued and the preliminary work, like hiring machinery and manpower has been started by contractors. Desilting work will begin at a few locations from next week and it will gather momentum after March 15. We aim to start the dashboard by then," said another official from the storm water department.
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Citizens can monitor the progress of nullah-cleaning in each of the nullahs, as well as the Mithi river. It will give them an idea of the desilting target and the percentage of work completed. The dashboard will be updated every day. The BMC spent around Rs 162 crore to carry out pre-monsoon desilting work last year. This year, it has set aside nearly Rs 226 crore for nullah-cleaning. Around Rs 46 crore has been allocated for the cleaning of Mithi river. According to an official, 75 per cent of nullah-cleaning is done before monsoon, 10 per cent during monsoon and 15 per cent post-monsoon.
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There are 309 major drains and four rivers with an approximate length of 290 km. There are also about 508 small nullahs stretching across 605 km. This year, the BMC budget of 2023-24 set aside Rs 90 crore for major nullahs and Rs 90 crore for minor nullahs. Apart from nullahs and rivers, there are around 2004 km-long roadside gutters, and contracts for these are given at the ward-level.
