Saturated Aksa dump slows drains declogging………..Sharad Vyas
MUMBAI: The BMC, already struggling to clean the city’s clogged drains before the monsoon sets in, has got a new problem on its hands. The eight-acre dump yard at Aksa, provided to the corporation last year by the state government to dump silt from nullah cleaning works, has run out of space. With desilting work far from complete and stuck at many chronic waterlogging spots, the corporation has now requested another 22 acre from the collector’s office. But officials said that it might take time coming.
“There is a total of 100 acres of land at Aska, out of which if they could afford to provide another few acres, it will take care of our problem. A request letter has been drafted and we expect a reply by Monday,” said a senior civic official.
BMC officials and contractors are already in an overdrive to meet the monsoon target of removing 4,12,542 square cubic metres of silt from 2,92,751 metres of nallah length. So far, 2,41,626 cubic metres of silt has been removed and work completed on the 1,71,085-metre stretch. “About 70% of the work is complete and rest should be over by May 31,” said an officer. But questions were raised in the BMC standing commiittee on how “100% of the ground is full when only 70% of work is complete so far”.
“The BMC must ensure that it is ready with a back-up plan to tackle remaining silt,” said Shiv Sena corporator and MLA Ravindra Waikar. The civic body spends more than Rs 50 crore to drain, widen and desilt 2,000 km of drains every year. But, the problem lies at places where other authorities like railways and MMRDA have control.
On Friday, railway officials promised BMC that their share of work was nearing completion. The central railway, which had planned to desilt 99,166m lengths of drains and clean 83 culverts, has so far completed work on 87,447m and 79 culverts. The western railway has completed cleaning 30 of the 43 culverts. “The corporation has been promising to complete nullah cleaning work on time, but we are always let down by railways and agencies who do not allow work on land under their jurisdiction,” said BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar.