A daily cleaning and maintenance regime for the 3.5-kilometre Worli Koliwada seafront has been approved by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with implementation placed under a contracted operations model. The initiative has been framed as a heritage-preservation and public-realm improvement effort, in which a living, working waterfront used by the Koli fisherfolk will be kept serviceable while also being made more welcoming for visitors.
Under the new arrangement, an annual outlay of ₹1.5 crore has been committed. Responsibility for end-to-end upkeep has been assigned to a contractor so that litter interception on water, shoreline sweeping, and odour management can be ensured on a continuous basis. It has been conveyed by civic officers that odour-control mechanisms will be deployed so that unpleasant smells are minimized and that the visitor experience is improved. The intention to develop, in a subsequent phase, a continuous pedestrian pathway across the seafront has also been indicated as part of longer-term place-making.
The initiative has been positioned within a broader thrust that has been taken up over the past year to revive Koliwadas across Mumbai. These neighbourhoods, inhabited by the indigenous Koli community and concentrated along coastal precincts such as Mahim, Worli, and Cuffe Parade, have been recognized for their cultural significance and their vital role in the city’s seafood economy. In a related step, a seafood plaza had earlier been introduced at the Mahim seafront, and that action has been cited as precedent for waterfront-oriented enhancements.
It has been acknowledged by officials that, prior to this decision, no comprehensive shoreline-maintenance protocol had been pursued. Instead, periodic solid-waste pickups were being undertaken by garbage-collection vans. Through the present move, a shift from intermittent removal to round-the-clock cleaning has been enacted so that operational reliability is improved and the working harbour can be kept functional throughout the day. This change has been described by officials as the “first time” such comprehensive action is being applied to the seafront.
By positioning continuous cleaning as core infrastructure for a fishing harbour, heritage protection has been intertwined with routine civic services. The Worli Koliwada stretch, being used as a parking and operational zone for boats, has been identified as a location where cleanliness contributes directly to livelihoods and safety. With marine debris scheduled to be removed systematically, with the full seafront slated for regular cleaning, and with odour-control systems planned, an upgrade in environmental hygiene and user comfort has been targeted. As the second-phase pathway concept is explored, the site’s dual identity—as a productive waterfront and as a community-and-visitor promenade—has been set to be reinforced through sustained, everyday maintenance rather than one-off clean-ups.
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