To avoid delays in commencing the pre-monsoon desilting of nullahs, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to appoint a contractor to clean drains for two years. The BMC will spend Rs 540 crore on desilting nullahs as well as the Mithi river.
“Every year, the BMC appoints a contractor for desilting work. This process takes time, which delays the work. To avoid this, we have decided to appoint a contractor for two years,” said an official from the BMC’s stormwater drains department.
A civic official said, “We used to appoint contractors for two years in the past. But this always attracted criticism as the tender amount for two years is high. However, inviting tenders every year is a time-consuming process, so we decided not to do that this year.”
Riyaz Mulla, Kurla resident
According to the BMC’s policy, 75 per cent of silt is removed before the monsoon while 15 per cent is removed during the rainy seasons. It is estimated around three lakh metric tonnes of silt is removed from nullahs annually. Last year BMC spent R248 crore on nullah desilting.
Rajesh Pandya, a resident of Anand Nagar in Dahisar East, said that BMC officials should keep a continuous watch during the desilting process. “The BMC should publish the numbers of contractors, supervisors and civic engineers concerned, so locals can raise complaints if they are not satisfied with the work,” he said.
In 2024, desilting work started in the last week of March. This year, BMC is aiming to commence it from mid-March.
Riyaz Mulla, a Kurla resident, said citizens had no way of independently confirming the amount of silt the BMC claims to remove. “It would be transparent of the civic body to mention the quantity of silt removed and the contractor concerned on boards at every site,” Mulla said.
Rajesh Pandya, Dahisar East resident
According to the tender documents, the BMC will spend Rs 39.45 crore, Rs 148.39 crore and Rs 257.35 on desilting nullahs in the island city and eastern and western suburbs respectively. The major nullah’s in Mumbai collectively measure 247.84 km in length while the total length of minor nullahs is 241.36 km.
Mithi River
The BMC recently appointed a new contractor for the desilting of the 22.25-km-long Mithi River as the previous contract had ended. The BMC had invited a tender of Rs 96 crore for cleaning the river.
