MP dissatisfied with drain clean-up work at Dahisar

Member of Parliament of North Mumbai Sanjay Nirupam has joined the corporators in lambasting the municipal corporation’s pre-monsoon work.

Member of Parliament of North Mumbai Sanjay Nirupam has joined the corporators in lambasting the municipal corporation’s pre-monsoon work.

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Nirupam on Thursday inspected the pre-monsoon cleaning of drains at Dahisar and found the work “unsatisfactory”.

The 9-km long Dahisar river, which flows through the flood-prone N.L. Complex in Dahisar (E), was found clogged with garbage.

While senior civic officials claimed that the N.L. Complex nullah would be cleaned in the next 48 hours, the contractor, Nagamutthu Swami, said that “cleaning this dump would take around a month”.

Municipal officials claimed the Dahisar river can absorb up to 50 mm of rainfall, but the residents of N.L. Complex complained that the area gets flooded every monsoon.

“Besides flooding, breeding of mosquitoes due to the garbage heaps is also a major problem,” said Ganga Pachisi, who lives in a building adjoining the nullah.

The other spot Nirupam visited was Chandavarkar nullah at Borivli (W). The situation here seemed better.

Residents of nearby Bapu Nagar said there has been no flooding in the area for the past few years.

While the clean-up work at some nullahs was halted due to shortage of funds, at other drains, such as Mhatre nullah in Borivli (W), it was because of bureaucratic hurdles.

The land adjoining Mhatre nullah belongs to the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), without whose cooperation the proposed 90-m wall cannot be built.

“We are in talks with MTNL,” said S.P. Rajyadhikshit, sub-engineer, R-centre ward.

While civic officials continue trying to assure people that it will be a safe monsoon, Nirupam said: “After this visit, I am absolutely dissatisfied with the condition of nullahs and is afraid about the monsoon.”

Moreover, sewage workers complain that the gloves and gumboots that the municipal corporation provides them serve no purpose because the gumboots get filled with water, which is more dangerous.

“We intend to mechanise this process, but it will take time,” Chandrakant Watve, chief engineer, Storm Water Drain department.