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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, MAY 28: Come monsoon, Mumbaiites face a renewed flush of civic problems. Drains clog, roads develop potholes, manholes open up and walls cave in, to name a few. But the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is trying hard to ensure that this year will be different.
With barely two weeks to go before the monsoon sets in, senior officials at the corporation are striving hard to complete the works across the metropolis to avoid a repeat visit of the same ordeal this year. Assistant municipal commissioner Sreedhar Joshi told Express Newsline that pre-monsoon work was being carried out on a war-footing. “The commissioner Girish Gokhale was personally supervising the progress of the work apart from assistant and deputy municipal commissioners.”
The major work undertaken by the BMC during the monsoon is cleaning and desilting of the drainage system which is done in three phases.
As the first phase started late this year, the corporation has decided to increase the penalty for contractors who fail to complete the job on time. This year the penalty has been doubled from Rs 5000 for a delay of one week on one contract. However, till May 20, less than 50 per cent of the work was completed according to corporation records.
The corporation will spend Rs 1.43 crore on cleaning the drains in the city, Rs 5.66 crore on the western suburbs and Rs 4.68 for the eastern suburbs.
Apart from this, members of the vigilance cell have been stationed at various spots in the city to ensure that garbage is collected regularly and properly everyday by the contractors.
Joshi stated that failure in collection of garbage could result in flooding to some extent and also poses an related danger of spreading of water-borne diseases. “Hence the corporation is paying special attention to its disposal,” adding that pre-monsoon operations had also reduced the number of spots prone to flooding.
“However, at some places like Fashion Street due to missing link of drains, some flooding is inevitable and hence the repairing work will continue even after the monsoon,” he said.
Meanwhile, the garden department has also geared up and standing instructions have been issued to the department by the commissioner to keep their staff ready in case of any mishaps.
The department has gangs’ of workmen who assist the fire brigade in case of tree felling. Besides, each ward office has earmarked trees which need to be trimmed before the onset of monsoon.
The corporation has also roped in corporators to be part of the programme.
The mayor Vishakha Raut has also geared up her cleanliness drive an important part of the monsoon programme.’
Meanwhile, the corporation has set up a control room in each ward office where people can register their complaints.
