Mumbai: Muck from Mithi is more than from nullahs in all of western suburbs

After facing the music from Opposition and CM, civic body claims it has finished desilting work for 99 per cent of city’s water networks

The BMC claims it has completed 99 per cent of its pre-monsoon nullah cleaning work on Wednesday, a week prior to the May 31 deadline. Around 9.74 lakh tonnes of silt has been removed from the rivers, nullahs, and gutters. The quantity of silt removed from the 11 km stretch of the Mithi river is equivalent to the amount removed from the entire major nullah network of the western suburbs. 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) carries out  cleaning work before the monsoon, 10 per cent during and 15 per cent after the rainy season. 

While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had asked the BMC to remove silt right up to the bottom of nullahs and rivers, senior civic officials haven’t given any orders in this regard. According to information provided by the civic body, the scope of work depends on the quantity of silt and cleaning up to the bed is not required. “The contract for desilting was given based on the quantity of silt. Now if the quantity increases, we have to raise the cost of the contract or float new tenders,” said a civic official.

The city has 508 small nullahs that have a 605-km-long network. File pic/Satej Shinde

Of the 9.80 lakh tonnes of silt to be removed by May 31, the BMC removed 9.74 lakh tonnes so far. Of this, 1,92,517 tonnes of waste was removed from the approximately 146 km network of major nullahs in the western suburbs.

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Meanwhile, a total of 1,92,482 tonnes was removed from around 11 km of the Mithi river, from the spot of its origin to Mahim creek. The desilting target for Mithi is around 2.16 lakh tonnes. “Every year the quantity of silt removed from nullahs and the Mithi river is almost the same, based on prior experiences. But there isn’t any study conducted to evaluate the exact quantity of silt in rivers and nullahs,” said a BMC official.

There are 309 major drains and four rivers in the city, with an approximate length of 290 km. The city has 508 small nullahs that have a 605-km-long network, along with a combined 2,004 km of roadside gutters.

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