Mumbai Civic chief orders a rain check

Asks ward officers to complete cleaning of minor nullahs, ongoing road works with a focus on monsoon-related diseases

With monsoon two months away, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, has asked all the ward officers to complete cleaning of minor nullahs and ongoing road works with a special attention on monsoon-related diseases, in a monthly review meeting on Saturday.

He also asked ward officers to remove and take action against encroachments around major and minor nullahs in the city.

According to the civic body, there are around 13,000 huts encroaching the nullahs in the city.

Taking a special note of water-logging at Hindmata, Gandhi market King Circle, Kurla (East) and Milan Subway in Santacruz, the civic chief has ordered officials to focus on these areas for a flood-free monsoon.

He has also asked them to cover manholes and reinstate all the trenches. Ward officials will also conduct mock-drills ahead of monsoon with the BMC’s fire brigade, disaster management department and the national disaster response force.

The Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) recently provided many civic services online, from paying bills to applying for health and birth certificates and complaints about illegal encroachments.

However, many citizens complained about the glitches in the systems and the civic chief has asked officers to take up the matter.

After discontinuing the popular pothole tracking website, the BMC on Saturday unveiled its new platform on Facebook (www.facebook.com/mcgmroad), wherein citizens can post complaints about potholes with pictures, which will be monitored by the civic body.

A chief engineer from road department will administer the complaints.

Following the new platform for pothole tracking, all the assistant engineers (maintenance) from each ward will open a new Gmail account to exclusively access the new Facebook account to receive the complaints.

Taking note of the abysmal segregation of waste in the city, the commissioner has asked all ward officers to prioritise and work with Advance Locality Management (ALMs) to promote segregation.