Muck-free Mumbai: Ahead of monsoon, BMC scoops a million tons silt from city gutters

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cleared nearly a million tons of garbage and silt from the network of Mumbai's gutters and drains, to make them squeaky clean ahead of the monsoon 2023 likely to hit mid-June, officials said here on Thursday.

This year, the BMC cleared over 9.85 lakh tons of the muck, achieving 101 per cent of the set target a week ahead of the deadline date, said Additional Municipal Commissioner P. Velrasu.

He said that desilting and cleaning of drains help in faster discharge of the rainwater and prevents flooding on the roads and other places.

The desilting targets are fixed every year depending on the rainfall and other parameters, and the past experiences of which areas generate more silt-garbage, said an official.

The desilting work started simultaneously from March 6 and completed on May 25, beating the deadline (May 31) by a week.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ulhas Mahale said that this year, the BMC had included stringent terms and condition in the contracts to ensure that the sludge removal was carried out and monitored properly, including submitting pictures/videos of the works carried with geo-tags, which was put in the public domain.

Till date, the city has become muck-free as per the following data released by the BMC - City - 35,756 tons, Eastern Suburbs - 119,359 tons, Western Suburbs - 194,622 tons, Mithi River - 195,566 tones and work continues, small drains - 385,644 tons, and drains along highways - 53,977 tons, said the official.

This entailed nearly a staggering 51,500 vehicle trips to remove and dump the sludge at designated sites, and more 155,000 photos and 72,000 site videos available for public scrutiny.

Simultaneously, the BMC appealed to the people asking them to refrain from dumping garbage in the just-cleared drains/gutters to avoid clogging in monsoon. (IANS/NS)