Need of the hour: finish work

Silt must be removed from the side of the nullahs and roads before it starts raining heavily, says BJP, even as Opposition leaders in the civic body say bad contractors are to blame.

A day after HT published the first of its pre-monsoon audit reports, political leaders in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation admitted that the civic body needs to complete the pre-monsoon work urgently before the monsoons sets in, while Opposition leaders blamed bad contractors and a lack of urgency for the incomplete work.

HT Image

On June 2, a day after the May 31 deadline set for the completion of pre-monsoon work, a team of six experts put together by HT visited 16 trouble spots across the city only to find that work was incomplete despite the BMC’s claims that it has completed 90% of the work.

Dilip Patel, group leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, which is part of the ruling alliance in the BMC, said that this year the BMC had stretched itself and completed much of the work. “But the muck that has been removed from the nullahs has been left on the side and not taken to dumping grounds. In the next few days, before it starts raining heavily, the silt must urgently be picked up from the side of the nullahs,” Patel said.

Rais Sheikh, Samajwadi Party corporator, said that just as the BMC does pre-monsoon work, it must also work towards educating Mumbaiites about civic issues. “Of the total amount the BMC spends on cleaning nullahs, one-tenth could be spent on holding awareness campaigns for citizens and educating them about the city’s storm water drains, as that will prevent people from throwing garbage in the nullahs,” he said.