BMC To Start Cleaning 1000 Kms Roads Daily From December 1

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that it was cleaning 584 kilometers of roads in 24 wards of the city every day as part of its continuous campaign to combat the poor air quality in Mumbai. The civic body intends to wash over 1000 km of roads every day starting from December 1.

As per the data published in the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan (MAPMP) document, the major factor that contributes to the air pollution in the city is the dust arising from construction and demolition work on the string of ongoing projects of the megapolis. This is also followed by the dust arising from roads.

The city authority has been cleaning busy sidewalks and 60-foot-wide highways in an effort to stop dust from contributing to the already growing levels of air pollution. The majority of the 548 km of roads that are cleaned every day are in the G/north ward, which includes the Dadar and Dharavi pockets. There, 60.6 km of streets have been cleaned. This is followed by 28.15 km of roads in the K/East Ward, which includes Andheri East, and 24.42 km of roads in the R/North ward, which includes Dahisar.

A statement released by the civic body stated that currently, 584 km of roads in the Mumbai metro area are being cleaned, including the Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, the Bandra to Santacruz West link road, the Western Expressway, the Eastern Expressway, and the Swami Vivekananda Marg.

For the purpose of cleaning the roads, BMC has micro water sprayers, firex tankers, sludge dewatering devices, pressed water tankers, and qualified employees. Although 121 tankers have been sent out for cleaning, the CM has ordered the BMC to send out 1000 hired water tankers to transport recycled or borewell water in order to improve road washing in the coming days.

BMC has made sure that no fresh drinking water is being wasted on this cleaning process. BMC is using the water being produced through recycling and local sources.

The municipal corporation also intends to deploy 1200 clean-up marshals throughout the city starting on December 1 in an effort to increase awareness. BMC-appointed troops known as "clean up marshals" fine people for littering, burning trash, and unlawful waste disposal. These marshals apply penalties in accordance with the 2006 Solid Waste Management by-laws of BMC.

Apart from marshals, to purify the air Mumbaikars breathe, BMC has taken various steps in the past few days. Now BMC is all set to introduce a mobile app showcasing Mumbai’s air quality. 

All of the information regarding the actions carried out by the BMC will be available through the new mobile app. Citizens will have access to it to obtain first-hand knowledge.

The civic body published a list of 27 mitigation strategies on October 23 and commanded construction firms to follow them. It has sent warning alerts to one thousand construction sites so far.

BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that the offenders have received notices from BMC. The BMC will begin implementing real changes by the end of November and the beginning of December.