Mumbai BJP Chief Ashish Shelar Demands White Paper On Desilting Work Carried Out By BMC Across City

Mumbai: BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar on Tuesday demanded a white paper on desilting of nullahs carried out by the BMC in Mumbai. He expressed displeasure after inspecting some of the nullahs cleaning work in the western suburbs. Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani took a review meeting and instructed the senior officials to conduct spot visit twice a day.

Shelar inspected the desilting works at Gazdar Bandh Junction, South Avenue, North Avenue, SNDT nullah in the western suburbs on Tuesday. He said that the BMC’s claim of having completed 75% of the work is false and not more than 40 to 45% of work has been completed.

"Despite BMC spending Rs. 250 crores, I am absolutely not satisfied with the kind of desilting work that has been carried out in the city. They are like Ratan Khatri’s figures. BMC Commissioner, please visit the different nullah. Let us see your photographs inspecting the cleanliness drive. It still isn’t too late," said Shelar.

“Show us through videos where 2.73 lakh metric tons of sludge has been dumped? Show us the dumping ground? Show us the certificates duly signed by eyewitnesses from where the sludge was removed? BMC officials have simply released the figures quoted by the contractors," he alleged. He also blamed Shivsena (UBT) who was the ruling party in BMC for the last 25 years.

"Had Uddhavji carried out his job efficiently over the last 25 years, this situation would not have arisen. The entire process needs to be revisited with new parameters to measure the amount of silt and the cleaning works need to be formulated," demanded Shelar.

Meanwhile, in a review meeting held in the BMC headquarters, Gagrani instructed the civic officials to complete the desilting of major and minor nullahs as per the schedule. While the cleaning of culverts and nullahs under the jurisdiction of other agencies such as the Railway, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) should be completed by June 5. He has also directed the deputy and assistant municipal commissioner to visit desilting work in their respective areas in the morning and evening.