For a better Swachh rank for Mumbai, ₹1.5 crore to be spent for washing dividers

With an aim to better the city’s position in the Swachh Bharat Survekshan, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it will wash 250km of medians (dividers)

With an aim to better the city’s position in the Swachh Bharat Survekshan, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it will wash 250km of medians (dividers) on Mumbai’s roads at an annual cost of ₹1.5 crore.

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Mumbai has been ranked 49th among 425 cities in the 2019 Swachh Bharat Survekshan, a steep fall from its 18th rank in 2018. As per a tender floated by the BMC, it will award the ₹12.66-crore contract to mechanically wash the dividers for a period of eight years. Before finalising the contract, the BMC officials will check the cleaning machines. A senior official said, “We can’t award a long-term contract with minimal knowledge about the machines. We have to be sure that the machines functional well.”

Officials said the method will bring a difference. “We often see dirty medians on almost all the roads in the city. From paan stains to garbage, the medians look unclean and spoil the look of the city. By washing them, we are likely to do better in the Swachh Survekshan rankings. We saw a demo of washing the dividers and decided to adopt the method after seeing the results,” said Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner (roads and traffic, solid waste management department).

However, activists have found the method bizarre and an unnecessary waste of money and water. Gerson D’Cunha, convener of non-governmental organisation Action for Good Governance (AGNI), said, “I fail to understand the connection between Swachh Survekshan and spending crores of rupees in washing the dividers, for which the civic body plans to spend ₹1.5 crore annually. Instead of doing this, the BMC can improve our roads, repair the potholes and make other infrastructural changes.”

Singhal said that the method is viable. “The dividers will be cleaned in an optimised manner, without unnecessary wastage of water,” he said.