Gagrani takes stock of rain preparedness on Day 1 in BMC
Bhushan Gagrani also toured the disaster control room to review emergency measures. He instructed 24 ward officers to be out on the road for desilting works
MUMBAI: Following his appointment as BMC commissioner, Dr Bhushan Gagrani lost no time in convening a meeting on Thursday with assistant commissioners from 24 wards and various civic departments. The focus was on monsoon readiness, dilapidated buildings, desilting of nallahs, road maintenance, stormwater drains and disaster management.
Known to be an astute administrator, the commissioner led a marathon three-hour session in which chief engineers made presentations on road conditions and drainage systems. The discussions also covered pothole repairs, tender statuses and disaster preparedness. Additionally, Gagrani evaluated the progress of road concretisation.
Newly appointed additional municipal commissioners Abhijit Bangar and Amit Saini were also in attendance along with two other AMCs, Ashwini Joshi and Sudhakar Shinde. Bangar, who took over from P Velrasu, made a presentation on his first day. Civic sources present at the meeting said his impeccable presentation on civic projects made Gagrani ask Bangar in jest, “Were you earlier with the Thane Municipal Corporation or Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation?”
The new civic chief also took a tour of the disaster control room to review various emergency measures. He instructed 24 ward officers to be out on the road for desilting works, although major nallahs come under the purview of the BMC’s central agency and not the wards.
Some inputs were given by ward officers at the meeting. “For the last four years, it was a one-way interaction where we only took instructions. Now, it is a two-way interaction and it felt good,” said a civic official.
Gagrani asked his officers to focus on the deepening of drains and pre-monsoon desilting or the timely removal of silt from drains to facilitate rapid water drainage. “The BMC always faces a backlash on this issue from citizens,” he said. He also ordered preventive measures to be taken to avoid water accumulation in residential areas adjacent to water bodies and said that low-lying areas should remain on high alert, especially during high tide.
With the large number of road works going on across Mumbai, Gagrani stressed that they had to be completed promptly so as not to cause inconvenience to citizens during the monsoon. He also mandated the prompt filling of potholes, using cutting-edge resources.
Gagrani stressed on the issue of dilapidated buildings that came under the C1 (dangerous) category and said that they, especially those that belonged to the BMC and were not yet vacated, needed to be taken up on a priority basis in order to avoid fatalities during the monsoon.
The commissioner also directed the number of surveillance towers to be increased in the Juhu Chowpatty area, and said that efforts should be made to make the emergency communication system more effective. He emphasised the need for coordinated efforts among government agencies, including Central and Western Railway, Mumbai Metro and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation in order to prevent inconvenience to citizens during the monsoon.