No garbage bins bought in 4 yrs….Bhavika Jain
POOR CIVICS Bins installed years ago have been damaged, stolen. But one department waits for another to have them replaced
POOR CIVICS Bins installed years ago have been damaged, stolen. But one department waits for another to have them replaced
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s commitment to keeping the city clean has come under a cloud with the revelation that not a single litter-bin has been purchased in the last four years.
Officials at the civic body’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) department admitted that dustbins were last purchased in 2007. Most of the 5,000 bins purchased then have been stolen or damaged, the officials said.
All this while, the SWM -responsible for keeping the city clean -has been waiting for the roads department to undertake the street furniture project, which involves setting up garbage bins.
The street furniture project was set up in 2007 and includes setting up litter-bins, benches, information kiosks and lights across the city.
We haven’t purchased dustbins since then because the street furniture project had been announced and one of the elements of the project was installing dustbins in the city.
Our seniors believe that there is no point purchasing litterbins as the street furniture project is already underway, said a civic official from the SWM department. However, the ambitious project is stuck in a legal tangle and is yet to be executed.
On August 18, Hindustan Times reported a letter written by the honorary consul general of Greece, Jeroo Mango, to civic chief Subodh Kumar, pointing out the lack of litterbins on Mumbai’s roads.
We are left with only 100odd litterbins in stock as most of the bins installed on the roads have been broken or stolen. We will now install these bins in areas where they are needed most, said Bhalchandra Patil, chief engineer, SWM. As per the civic norms, there should be a dustbin every 300 metres. Currently, there are only 800 litter-bins installed across the city, while the others have been damaged or stolen. The streets in the city have been getting worse with filth strewn all around. And then they have appointed cleanup marshals to penalise people who litter, said Sheila Sarkar, a teacher.
Meanwhile, faced with embarrassment and dirty streets, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to place dustbins at places like Marine Drive and Worli Seaface on Sundays so that garbage doesn’t spew on the streets and can be collected from the bins.