On Tuesday, March 25, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start the yearly pre-monsoon desilting of the city’s drains. 23 contractors have been given work orders by the civic organisation to clean the city’s and the suburbs’ minor and major drains. In the meanwhile, work is scheduled to start as soon as the tenders for desilting the Mithi River are finished next week.
This year, the desilting project has been allocated a budget of Rs 468 crore—an 88% increase from last year’s Rs 249 crore. Officials clarified that the rise in cost is due to the contract being issued for a two-year duration, unlike the previous year’s single-year agreement.
To ensure transparency and accountability, the BMC has mandated 30-second video recordings and photographs for all desilting activities. Moreover, CCTV footage before and after the cleaning of smaller drains is now compulsory.
Civic authorities want to finish the desilting procedure quickly in order to avoid waterlogging and floods throughout the city, as monsoon readiness is a major issue.
Source: The Times Of India
