‘Nuisance fee’: BMC levies fines to have a cleaner Mumbai
The Solid Waste Management (SWM) department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started imposing ‘nuisance fines’ on people for offences that include debris on roads, hawkers/vendors creating a nuisance, shops throwing waste outside, among others
Mumbai: The civic body has decided to crack the whip against throwing waste and debris on the road, shops not keeping dustbins, and other practices that make the city filthy, making it an unpleasant sight for the citizens.

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started imposing ‘nuisance fines’ on people for offences that include debris on roads, hawkers/vendors creating a nuisance, shops throwing waste outside, among others. On Saturday, the SWM department conducted its first such drive in Dadar and fined 36 people for creating various nuisances on the road.
“Under section 461 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation(MMC) Act, people can be fined for creating such nuisances. The SWM department has been working to clean the city, but we also want people to take this seriously and not create such a mess. There are also fines for housing societies if they are not keeping their premises clean. For outside premises also, we want people to use dustbins,” Kazi Irfan, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), SWM, said.
The ‘nuisance’ drive, however, is not only for the citizens. The SWM department is in the process of preparing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for other departments of BMC and agencies like BEST and Adani Electricity about not leaving behind debris after any repair or construction work in public places.
“We will be issuing SOPs in the coming few days to all civic wards, BMC departments and other agencies as well. Not just citizens, many times even contractors and other agencies leave behind debris or do not maintain cleanliness at construction sites,” Irfan said.
According to officials, contractors appointed by various agencies, including BMC, not cleaning up after repair or construction works is tarnishing the image of the SWM department and is also a nuisance for the citizens.
“For example, a BEST official may dig to repair a streetlight and not clear the debris, creating problems for pedestrians. The SOPs will mention the details on what they need to do,” an official said, adding that all wards have been informed to start levying a ‘nuisance fine’ to bring awareness amongst people.

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