Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ashwini Bhide conducted an inspection of civic facilities across Andheri and Vile Parle on Wednesday as part of the civic body’s pre-monsoon preparedness review in Mumbai’s western suburbs.
The inspection covered sanitation chowkies, insecticide department units, maintenance facilities, road repair divisions and pumping stations. During the visit, Bhide interacted with sanitation workers and reviewed operational conditions at multiple civic units.
Officials said the Commissioner enquired about workers’ duty hours, working conditions and day-to-day operational challenges. She instructed civic officials to ensure that sanitation, maintenance and insecticide departments are provided with adequate infrastructure and proper operational support.
During the inspection, Bhide also expressed concern regarding supervision within the maintenance department. She observed that despite adequate manpower being available, junior engineers were not exercising sufficient oversight on ground-level work. The Commissioner stressed the need for stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms to improve the quality and efficiency of civic maintenance activities.
Bhide directed all Assistant Commissioners to review staffing patterns at individual maintenance chowkies and prepare area-specific maintenance plans. She further instructed that regular civic works such as footpath repairs, curb stone installation and divider maintenance should increasingly be handled through in-house municipal labour instead of depending heavily on contractors.
According to officials, the Commissioner also asked civic teams to conduct field inspections within their respective wards and implement phased maintenance plans using a combination of municipal staff and contractors wherever required.
As part of the pre-monsoon review, Bhide inspected the solid waste management chowky near Andheri railway station, the insecticide department unit at Tata Compound in Vile Parle West and the maintenance chowky at Bajaj Road. She also reviewed the condition of the Irla nullah, SNDT nullah and the Gajdharband pumping station.
The Commissioner instructed officials to ensure that the Irla rainwater pumping station remains fully operational during the monsoon to help prevent flooding in vulnerable locations such as Milan subway, the Cooper Hospital area, Vile Parle railway station and the Juhu-Vile Parle Development Scheme locality.
Source: Mid-day
